P. Thangamani

P. Thangamani is an Indian politician and incumbent Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu from Kumarapalayam constituency. He was the minister of industry during 2011–16 elected from Kumarapalayam constituency. Currently, he is elected from same constituency from 2016 and he was the Minister of power of the Government of Tamil Nadu till May 2021. As a cadre of Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, he was elected to the same Tiruchengode constituency in the 2006 elections.^[1][2][3]

Tamil Nadu joined the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme in January 2017. The agreement was signed by Electricity Minister P. Thangamani in the presence of Union Minister of State for Power Piyush Goyal.^[4][5][6] According to Business Standard article, the scheme emphasised the need for periodic tariff revisions, with estimated increases varying across states. In the case of Tamil Nadu, higher tariff adjustments were considered more than 10% to address the financial position of the power distribution sector.^[7]

Prior to this, Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa had expressed reservations about the scheme, stating that it would primarily benefit private power producers and financial institutions rather than consumers or the State government.^[8][9] Subsequent reports per The Hindu, indicated that the State’s participation in the scheme occurred during her hospitalisation, alongside developments related to the implementation of the National Food Security Act.^[10]