He was also the minister of state in the ministry of finance from 2004 to March 2012 when the DMK pulled out of the ruling UPA coalition government.

[5] Palanimanickam joined the DMK during the Anti-Hindi agitation of 1965 through his father Subbiah was a staunch Congress party worker and an aide of R Venkataraman and G K Moopanar.

[7] In February 2012, CBI lodged strong protest with CVC on the "dirty tricks" of certain Income Tax officials to intimidate crucial witnesses in the 2G spectrum case allegedly at the behest of Minister of State (Finance) SS Palanimanickam.

During October 2012, Palanimackam came out open in the media to criticize his senior colleague for showing undue interest in Thanjavur, while he could have done it was his Sriperumbudur constituency.

[15][16] Referring to the internal conflict, the party leader Karunanidhi came out in the open stating "When I go to sleep, such factional feuds engulf me and make me sleepless".