He had also been the minister for Backward Classes between 2006 and 2011 in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, India.

He has been an MLA 9 times which record he holds with senior members like Duraimurugan and K. A. Sengottaiyan among currently serving MLAs, with a political career spanning over 40 years.

[1][2] He has been elected to the Tamil Nadu Assembly eight times and won on three consecutive occasions as an All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) candidate from the Sattur constituency.

After the death of M. G. Ramachandran, he won the neighbouring Vilathikulam constituency as a candidate for the AIADMK (Jayalalitha faction).

He again won Sattur, as a candidate for the then-new Anna Puratchi Thalaivar Munnetra Kazhagam (but register as the candidate of Thayaga Marumalarchi Kazhagam) and subsequently suffered his first defeat after re-joining and merged his party with AIADMK in 1996.