Poongothai Aladi Aruna

She is the daughter of the late DMK minister Aladi Aruna. She was born in Chennai on 28 October 1964. She is a gynaecologist by profession and received part of her education in London.[1] She married Balaji Venugopal in the late 1980s. They have two daughters, Samantha and Kavya.

She was given a ticket to contest elections after her father's death. She was elected to the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly as a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam candidate from Alangulam constituency in 2006 elections.[2][3] She later went on to become Social Welfare minister in the then Tamil Nadu government.[4]

During her tenure as the Social Welfare Minister, Chief Minister Kalaignar M Karunanidhi announced the Two Egg scheme in the midday meals and now it is three times a day. The physically challenged people were given high priority during this period to the extent of a complete survey, National ID Card, Government benefits and motorised vehicles. She had submitted her resignation on 14 May 2008 following a controversy over her telephone conversation with the Director of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption S.K. Upadhyay about a corruption case involving her relative.[9]

On 28 February 2009 Poongathai Aladi Aruna was reinstated as Minister for Information Technology to the Government of Tamil Nadu. This is first time that Tamil Nadu Govt. has a separate minister for Information Technology.[10]

In an audio CD released by Janata party president Subramanian Swamy on 13 May 2008, Poongothai is pleading with the Director of Vigilance and Anti-corruption, SK Upadhyay to be soft on her relative, Jawahar. Jawahar is an electrical engineer in the Tamil Nadu electricity board and was caught accepting bribes. She later confirmed that the voice in that tape is really hers[11] and resigned from office accepting responsibility.[12]

She has been involved in Nira Radia tapes published by Outlook magazine. The conversation has Niira Radia explaining to Poongothai Aladi Aruna, why Kanimozhi has made a mistake by refusing the MoS portfolio and how she now must remain friends with Azhagiri. "She should have taken the MoS, but she had her own views. Kani must learn to look after herself. This is politics and it is very cut throat, nobody is your friend, nobody is your enemy. I don’t know whether she feels that she's made a mistake and recognises it. Please, you must talk to her and tell her to be friend with Azhagiri. Trust me, it’s very important for them to remains friends."[13]