In a statement, Shanmugasundaram, who was also a former Rajya Sabha member said that he will meet Chief Minister MK Stalin on Wednesday, January 10 and submit his resignation papers. Although he cited personal reasons for his resignation, TNM has learnt that the decision was taken following legal setbacks that the ruling government had to face recently, especially with regard to the conviction of K Ponmudy, a sitting Minister. The conviction had not gone down well with many of the senior DMK leaders, including CM Stalin, who reportedly wanted a revamp of the government’s legal team.
TNM had reported in the last week of October, in its exclusive newsletter Powertrip, that there was anger brewing in the DMK that the legal team did not foresee any danger in Ponmudy’s case. TNM had learnt that even a day before Ponmudi’s conviction, the legal team had confidently told the Minister that he was in the clear.
Shanmugasundaram took over as Advocate General in May 2021, right after the DMK government came to power in Tamil Nadu. With over four decades of experience, he is best known for handling high profile cases, especially being the lawyer who led the legal team that worked on the disproportionate assets case against former CM J Jayalalitha.
Some of the other important cases he has handled included the 10.5% internal reservation for the Vanniyar community within the MBC quota, the 7.5% reservation provided for government school students in NEET admissions and so on. Prior to being appointed as advocate-general, Shanmugasundaram also served as member of the Rajya Sabha and as a public prosecutor of the Madras High Court between 1996 and 2001.
Senior advocate PS Raman will most likely be appointed as the new advocate general of Tamil Nadu. Raman had served as advocate general of the DMK government between 2006 - 2009 and was said to be a close aide of DMK supremo and former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.