T. R. Baalu

Thalikkottai Rajuthevar Baalu, better known as T. R. Baalu (called Baalu), is an Indian politician. He is currently the MP of Lok Sabha of the Sriperumbudur constituency, elected five times since 1996 from Chennai South and Sriperumbudur. He is a leader of the DMK party and is known for his political loyalty, having been in the party since 1957. He is now the Treasurer of DMK, elected unopposed on 3 September 2020. He earlier served as the Principal Secretary of the DMK Party from August 2018 to January 2020.

Career and personal life
Thalikottai Raju Baalu is an leader of the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) Party. Baalu was born on 13 December 1941 (his official DOB remains as 15 June due to confusion at the time of his birth) to Rajuthevar and Vadivambal at Thalikottai in Thiruvarur District of Tamil Nadu. He studied B.Sc. in New College (Madras University) and his diploma in drafting engineering drawings from Central Polytechnic, Chennai. Baalu's political career started at a very early age of sixteen when he joined the DMK party. He was active in grass-root politics and made friends with his then neighbouring ward's youth wing personnel Stalin, who did not act like a big shot even though he was the son of the then Party President and Chief Minister Dr. Kalaignar Mu. Karunanidhi. Baalu later became the Party's Secretary for the bastion Chennai unit (Unsplit) in 1982.

Baalu was first elected to Parliament as a member of Rajya Sabha in 1986, marking the first electoral defeat of AIADMK since MGR came to power.

He then became a member of the Lok Sabha in 1996 from Chennai South and became a Deputy Minister  in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas under Prime Minister Devegowda. Towards the end of his tenure, he also held additional charge of the then Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources (now called the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy). Baalu was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1998, 1999 and 2004 from the same constituency and again in 2009 and 2019 from Thiruperumbudur constituency. Baalu served as Cabinet Minister of Environment and Forests from 1999 to December 2003 and as Minister of Shipping and Road Transport and Highways from 2004 to 2009.

T.R. Baalu is the Leader of DMK Parliamentary Party and He also held the charge as Chairman of the Department Related Standing Committee of Parliament of the Ministry of Railways. In addition, Baalu was a member of several parliamentary committees like Ethics Committee, House Committee and Consultative Committee of Ministry of Finance. He is also a Member of International World Affairs Council (IWAC).

In his political career Baalu went to jail over 20 times for participating in demonstrations and agitations for public cause. He came to political limelight when he was jailed for one year under MISA along with DMK supremos Stalin, Maran and Dravidar Kazhagam leader K. Veeramani in 1976 for protesting against Emergency clamped in the country. He protested strongly against the midnight arrest and imprisonment of his party leader Karunanidhi on 30 June 2001. At that time, he was the union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. And it was the first time, a Cabinet Minister to be arrested by a State's Police Force.

Baalu is married to his long-term love Renuka Devi and later to his niece Porkkodi, and has three sons and two daughters. His second son T R B Rajaa (Renuka) is considered to be his Political Successor, having won 3 consecutive Tamil Nadu Assembly elections from their native constituency Mannargudi and now holds high offices both in the party (as DMK IT Wing Secretary) and the Tamil Nadu Government (as Industries Minister), while his other 2 sons Selvakumaar (Ren.), Rajkumar (Por.) and the eldest daughter Devi Kanchana (Por.) and take care of the businesses and institution, while the younger Manonmani (Por.) worked as a reporter-journalist in Tamil news channels.

Elections contested and positions held

 * 1986–1992 : was elected as a Member, Rajya Sabha. This is considered to be Former TN CM Dr.MGR's first electoral defeat.
 * 1996: Elected to Lok Sabha (Eleventh) for the 1st time
 * 1996-1998: Minister of State, Petroleum, Natural Gas and Non-Conventional Energy Sources
 * 1998: Elected to Lok Sabha (Twelfth) for the second time
 * 1999: Elected to Lok Sabha (Thirteenth) for the third time
 * 1999-2003: Cabinet Minister, Environment and Forests
 * 2004: Elected to Lok Sabha (Fourteenth) for the fourth time from Chennai South (Lok Sabha constituency)
 * 2004-2009: Cabinet minister for Shipping, Road Transport & Highways.
 * 2009: Elected to Lok Sabha (Fifteenth) for the fifth time from Sriperumbudur
 * 2019: Elected to Lok Sabha (Seventeenth) for the sixth time from Sriperumbudur

As a member of parliament and minister
Baalu is one of the prominent leaders to work towards the implementation of Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project. He was handling it during his tenure as the minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways. The project proposes linking the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar between India and Sri Lanka by creating a shipping canal through the shallow sea sometimes called Setu Samudram, and through the chain of islands variously known as Ram Sethu or the Adam's Bridge. A few organisations are opposing the dredging of Ramasethu on religious, environmental and economical grounds. Many of these parties and organisations support implementation of this project using one of the five alternative alignments considered earlier without damaging the structure considered sacred by Hindus. During 2006, the Supreme Court Baalu quashed a case requesting a ban on the project and issues notices to Baalu and the environment ministry. With 22 km of dredging remaining, the project is held from March 2010 by a Supreme Court order seeking the Central Government to clarify the status of the bridge as a national monument. He was recruited as a minister in 2009 during the second term on UPA coalition government as it was reported that the Prime Minister was unhappy with Baalu over the corruption charges in Sethusamudram project. But he continued as the head of the DMK parliamentary party and also part of various central committees.

DMK pulled out of the ruling UPA on 20 March 2013 following widespread protests in Tamil Nadu against the central government for not taking up the concerns of Tamils in Sri Lanka in the UN resolution against the alleged human rights violation against Tamils by Sri Lankan government. There was a brief controversy when Azhagiri did not accompany the contingency led by Baalu, the head of MPs from the DMK party, to tender resignation in the Prime minister's office and to hand over the letter of withdrawal to the President on 20 March 2013. It was claimed as a mark of protest against his father Karunanidhi's decision to pull out from the central ministry. Some sources claim he delayed his resignation as he was not kept in the loop while taking the decision and snubbed Baalu.

The fifth Joint parliamentary committee was constituted in February 2011 to probe 2G case. It is headed by P.C. Chacko and had 30 members, 15 each from the ruling UPA and opposition members belonging to BJP, JD (U), CPI, CPM, Trinamool Congress, BJD, DMK and the AIADMK in the 30-member panel accused P.C. Chacko of being "partisan" and demanded his removal (They submitted a memorandum to the Lok Sabha Speaker expressing their "no-confidence". ) Three of the DMK MPs, namely, A. Raja, the IT and Telecommunication minister, Kanimozhi, the daughter of Karunanidhi and Rajya Sabha MP and Dayanidhi Maran, the nephew and IT and Telecommunication minister preceding A. Raja, are the three accused in the scam. Baalu is the only member from the DMK in the committee and he, along with other opposition members, snubbed the report as "half boiled" as the draft report gave a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram, while implicating the DMK minister A. Raja.