Poongothai Aladi Aruna
Poongothai Aladi Aruna at the U.S. Consulate General in Chennai
Minister for Social Welfare and Nutritious Noon Meal Programme
In office 13 May 2006 – 20 May 2008
Preceded by	P. Vijayalakshmi
Succeeded by	Geetha Jeevan
Minister for Information Technology
In office 28 February 2009 – 15 May 2011
Preceded by	M. Karunanidhi
Succeeded by	R. B. Udhaya Kumar
Member of Legislative Assembly
In office 25 May 2016 – 6 May 2021
Preceded by	P. G. Rajendran
Succeeded by	P. H. Manoj Pandian
Constituency	Alangulam
In office 2006–2011
Preceded by	P. G. Rajendran
Succeeded by	P. G. Rajendran
Constituency	Alangulam
Personal details
Born	(1964-10-28) 28 October 1964 (age 59) Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Political party	DMK
Spouse	V. Balaji
Parent(s)	Aladi Aruna Kamala
Occupation	Gynaecologist, politician
As of 23 February, 2018

Poongothai Aladi Aruna is an Indian politician and former Information and Technology minister of Tamil Nadu under DMK ruling in 2006–2011. In 2016 Tamil Nadu assembly election she contested from Alangulam (State Assembly Constituency) and won the election with 88891 votes.

Personal life

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.

Electoral performance

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]

Social Welfare Minister

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]

IT Minister

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]

Scandal

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]