Kalyanasundaram has a history of crimes

PUDUCHERRY: Chief Minister N Rangasamy’s promise of a corruption-free government could suffer a serious blow, thanks to the charges against Education Minister P M L Kalyanasundaram. After emerging victorious in the April 13 Assembly elections, Rangasamy appointed Kalayansundaram — with six cases pending against him— as a minister and the ‘second in command’ in his cabinet.  Meanwhile, there were claims that the 33-year-old Kalayanasundaram, who became minister on his maiden entry into the Assembly, was preferred for the post as he came from the ‘Shani Moola’ of the UT — Kalapet.   (As per myth, a task begun at Shani Moola is a task well begun.)There were also rumours doing the rounds that many in the All India Namathu Rajyam Congress (AINRC)—started by Rangasamy just a couple of months prior to the Assembly polls in the UT-- were jealous and opposed Kalayansundaram’s selection for the coveted post.However, with a probe panel coming out with prima facie evidence to prove the impersonation charge against the education minister, Rangasamy, who chose Kalyanasundaram after “praying to his mentor and guru Appa Paithyasamy at Salem,” could find himself in the midst of a political storm over the issue.The son of Periannan, a former councillor from Samipillaithottam, Kalayansundaram studied up to Class X, then dropped out and took his plunge into public life as a human rights activist. He began his political career with the BJP, contesting the 2006 election from Lawspet on a BJP ticket. However, he lost to former PWD and Education Minister M O H F Shahjahan of the Congress. During the April 13 polls, he returned—this time on an AINRC ticket— to defeat the very same rival from Kalapet, a constituency formed after delimitation. Later, when he was named a minister in the AINRC cabinet, the Opposition was up in arms, citing the six cases against him.Rangasamy himself chose to reply to the questions on behalf of his minister during the recent Assembly session. Meanwhile, determined to better his image and fed up by taunts of ‘Padikkatha Methai’ (illiterate man), Kalyanasundaram decided to clear his arrears in the SSLC examination at a centre in Tindivanam. On September 29, he allegedly provided the address of the school supervisor as his temporary address and engaged a proxy to write the SSLC examination at a school in Tindivanam. Based on a subsequent complaint, the Tamil Nadu Education Department engaged a high-level panel to look into the allegations.According to what TN Education Minster C Ve Shanmugham said, the panel found prima facie evidence against the education minister and a case has been registered against him.