On choppy seas

Transport and shipping minister T.R. Baalu has never been known for niceties, both in his party and outside his constituency.

Transport and shipping minister T.R. Baalu has never been known for niceties, both in his party and outside his constituency. Even before he created a controversy saying he saw nothing wrong in 8220;putting in a word8221; with the petroleum minister and in summoning the GAIL chairman to ask him to resume gas supplies to his sons8217; companies, he has stirred up things occasionally.

A man who has broken more bridges than mended, he draws his strength from the DMK8217;s first family and his connections with the party cadre. But in the National Capital, miles away from his base, he is a minister not particularly popular among babus.

A Young Turk, he joined the DMK in 1957 when he was just 16 and gradually rose up the ranks. Meanwhile, he finished his BSc from Chennai8217;s New College, before getting a diploma in engineering from the city8217;s Central Polytechnic.

But things really perked up for him after he found himself on the right side of DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi.

In 1982, when Chennai was still Madras and Baalu was Balu, he was pitched against senior leader R.D. Seethapathy during party elections for the Madras City district unit. Word spread quickly that Karunanidhi favoured Baalu and many saw the election as a mere formality. Baalu became a member of the Upper House in 1986 and of the Lok Sabha in 1996, 1998 and 2004 from South Chennai.

Choosing him as the Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways over senior MPs like C. Kuppusamy was widely noticed but criticised only by his detractors. Though he is close to the family and strong in the party, Baalu8217;s first half-stint in Delhi was overshadowed by the presence of Dayanidhi Maran, who was then seen as Karunanidhi8217;s pointsman in Delhi.

With a sheer miscalculation in his own media empire bringing down the otherwise media-savvy Maran, Baalu assumed the position of senior-most DMK minister at the Centre.

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However, the bureaucrats weren8217;t too happy to work him, complaining that he treated them like lower level cadre of the party, changing even senior officials at will. As shipping minister, he took up the task of completing work on the Sethusamudram and in the process made some more enemies.

Baalu has interests in shipping, fishing, chemicals, power, and a seemingly special interest in gas. Like many politicians in the state, he also runs a professional college. In his election affidavit, he has declared owning shares of Kings India Chemicals Corporation and Kings India Power Corporation.

Latest rumours say that his suggestion of raising the bar of economic criteria for ascertaining the creamy layer earned the wrath of the party high command, whose public stance has always been against any such layer.

A second-generation politician who is also an industrialist, Baalu is responsible to his shareholders as much as he is to the public. 8220;What8217;s wrong with that?8221; he asks.