Shanmugam is the third senior leader to fall out of favour of Jayalalithaa. Senior party leader K A Sengottayan was removed as minister a few months back. Last week, Jayakumar in a surprise move had resigned as Speaker.
A two-time MLA holding ministerial berth, Shanmugam was removed suddenly from the key party post of district secretary of Villupuram (North) unit, soon after which he was dropped from the Cabinet, where he held Commercial Taxes and Registration portfolio. Earlier, he had held School Education Minister portfolio after AIADMK swept to power in May 2011.
He was also a minister in the 2001-06 Jayalalithaa government.
The reason for Shanmugam's sudden exit is not known though speculation is that it was due to alleged misdeeds by his family members.
Government Chief Whip and Sankarapuram MLA has been inducted into the cabinet even as Jayalalithaa effected other party-level changes, including shunting out secretaries of some North and South Chennai district units.
