S. S. Sivasankar

S. S. Sivasankar is an Indian politician and writer from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). He has represented Andimadam (2006–11), and Kunnam (2011–16; 2021-) constituencies in Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. He served as Tamil Nadu's Minister for the Welfare of Backward, Most Backward and Denotified Communities (2021-22) and Minister for Transport (2022-26) in the Council of Ministers under M.K. Stalin.

Sivasankar has authored three books: Makkaludan En Anubavangal (or Makkalodu Naan) (2015), Chozhan Raja Prapthi (2019), and Thozhar Chozhan (2019).

Early life Sivasankar was born on 24 March 1969 in the village of Devanur near Andimadam in present-day Ariyalur district, Tamil Nadu. His father S. Sivasubramanian was an ardent supporter of the Dravidian movement and was instrumental in strengthening the DMK in the district. Sivasankar's mother is Sivarajeshwari.

After attending Andimadam Government School, Sivasankar studied Bachelor of Engineering in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Annamalai University. After graduating in 1991, he worked for a private company in Bangalore until 1993. He entered full-time politics in 1993, and was elected as the DMK Secretary of the Andimadam Union in 1999. In 2001, he was appointed DMK Secretary of the newly created Ariyalur district. Then, he once again became the District Secretary for Ariyalur and is presently in that post.

Civic Body Member (1996-2006) From 1996 to 2001, Sivasankar served as Deputy President of Perambalur District Panchayat. Then he served as a member of Ariyalur District Panchayat till 2006.

Member of Legislative Assembly (2006-16; 2021-) In the 2006 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, Sivasankar successfully contested in his home constituency of Andimadam.

In the 2011 Assembly election, he won from Kunnam. On 31 January 2014, he was suspended for an entire assembly session for tearing up a copy of the customary speech by Konijeti Rosaiah, then Governor of Tamil Nadu.

In the 2016 Assembly election, Sivasankar contested from Ariyalur constituency and lost by 2,621 votes.

In the 2021 Assembly election, he re-contested in Kunnam and won by 6,329 votes.

Ministership (2021-26) Following the victory of the DMK alliance in the 2021 election, Sivasankar was inducted into the M. K. Stalin ministry on 7 May 2021 as Minister for the Welfare of Backward, Most Backward and Denotified Communities. On 29 March 2022, his portfolio was transferred to Raja Kannappan and he in turn replaced the latter as Minister for Transport. +Sivasankar's electoral record (Assembly) YearConstituencyResultVotes (%)OpponentOpponent's partyOpponent's votes (%)Margin (13.17%)2016AriyalurThamarai S. Rajendran All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 2,621 (1.25%)2021KunnamR. T. Ramachandran All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam6,329 (31.09%)15,557 (6.75%)

Other Posts Sivasankar was interested in photography right from his college days. Consequently, he served as Secretary of the Photographers' Association. He has been a member of the Perambalur District Athletics Association and as President of the Tamil Nadu Silambam Association.

Works +YearTamil titleTransliterationStandardized English TitleMeaningTypeNotesPublisher2015மக்களுடன் என் அனுபவங்கள்: குன்னம் தொகுதி எம்.எல்.ஏவின் உணர்வும் பகிர்வும் (Alternative title) மக்களோடு நான்Makkaḷuṭaṉ eṉ aṉupavaṅkaḷ: Kuṉṉam tokuti em.El.Ēviṉ uṇarvum pakirvum (Alternative title) Makkaḷōṭu nāṉMakkaludan En Anubavangal (Makkalodu Naan) My Experiences with People: The Feeling and Sharing of the Kunnam MLA (Alternative title) I with the PeopleDiaryCollection of selected Facebook posts by Sivasankar.Kizhakku Pathipagam 2019சோழன் ராஜா ப்ராப்திCōḻaṉ rājā prāptiChozhan Raja Prapthi (?)Fortune of the Chola King (?)Essay collectionCollection of articles featured on the guest page of Andhimazhai magazine. Anthimazhai Pathipagam2019"தோழர்" சோழன்"Tōḻar" cōḻaṉThozhar Chozhan"Comrade Chola"Historical NovelSet in the backdrop of Naxalism and Tamil separatist movements (such as the TNLA led by Thamizharasan of Ponparappi). This novel went to the finals in the "Pen to Publish" contest held by Kindle Direct Publishing in 2019. Amazon Kindle

Personal life Sivasankar's residence is in Rajaji Nagar, Ariyalur. His wife Gayathridevi is a physician hailing from Papanasam (Thanjavur district). The couple has two sons: Sivasaran and Sivasurya.

Media appearance Sivasankar was one of the participants in Season 14 episode 21 of the television show Neeya Naana hosted by Gopinath Chandran on Vijay TV. In this episode (titled "Gopinath discusses Tamil Nadu") that aired on 10 February 2013, a student presented her position against reservation, citing 'arbitrary' caste-based concessions. In reply, Sivasankar famously gave an explanation: