V. R. Nedunchezhiyan

V.R. Nedunchezhiyan(left) with M. Karunanidhi (center) and M. G. Ramachandran (right)

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V.R. Nedunchezhiyan (Tamil: வி.ஆர்.நெடுஞ்செழியன்) (July 11, 1920 – January 12, 2000) was a former finance minister of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. He was also the acting chief minister of Tamil Nadu in two tenures (3 February 1969 – 10 February 1969 and 24 December 1987 – 7 January 1988).

He was born at Thirukkannapuram in a Hindu Mudaliar family . He died of a heart attack at a private hospital on January 12, 2000. He is survived by his wife Visalakshi and a son. His grandson, Jeevan Neduncheziyan is a Tennis player in India.

He was initiated into politics during his days at the Annamalai University. He joined the Dravidar Kazhagam party in 1944, but, along with C. N. Annadurai, moved over to form the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in 1949.

However, after the dismissal of the DMK government, he quit the DMK and formed his own party, the Makkal DMK, along with another senior DMK leader, Sathyavani Muthu. But, a year after the AIADMK came to power in 1977, he merged the Makkal DMK with the AIADMK.

In the MGR cabinet he served as the Finance Minister from 1980 to 1987. During the period of MGR's hospitalisation in 1984-85, Nedunchezhiyan presided over State Cabinet meetings. After MGR died in 1987, he was made the acting chief minister. He lost out to MGR's widow, Janaki Ramachandran, in the race for the chief ministership.

He remained in the Jayalalitha faction of the AIADMK for some time, but following differences with the leadership, he was expelled in August in 1988. He contested the 1989 Assembly election as part of a Group of Four. However, he returned to the unified AIADMK under Ms. Jayalalitha in October 1989.

From 1991 to 1996, he was the Finance Minister in the Jayalalitha government holding, once again, the number two position in the Cabinet. Despite a split in the party in 1998, he remained a Jayalalitha loyalist for the rest of his life.

References

• Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
• Asian News Digest - Obituary
• Worldstatesmen.org
• The Hindu: Nedunchezhiyan dies of heart failure

Persondata
Name	Nedunchezhiyan, V R
Alternative names
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Date of birth	July 11, 1920
Place of birth
Date of death	January 12, 2000
Place of death