Thirunavukkarasar won the seat, aged 27, and was elected as the Deputy Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.

Subsequently, he served as Tamil Nadu state minister from 1980 to 1987 in the MGR cabinet, holding portfolios that included Industries, Housing Board, Excise and Handlooms.

Thirunavukkarasar joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for a brief period and was also a member of the Rajya Sabha – the upper house of the Parliament of India – from the state of Madhya Pradesh.

[citation needed] He resigned his seat on 15 October 1999,[6] he started Anna Puratchi Thalaivar Thamilga Munnetra Kazhagam with K. K. S. S. R. Ramachandran in 1991, it merged with AIADMK in 1996.

[7] Thirunavukkarasar was invited to inaugurate the Tamil Nadu chapter of Indian National Congress Overseas in New York, US.

[8] Thirunavukkarasar was the Industries, Handlooms and Commercial tax minister in the Ramachandran cabinet while simultaneously being the deputy speaker of the assembly.

[citation needed] Thirunavukkarasar also established several State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOTs).

[citation needed] Believing in human resource development through education, he established schools, arts and science college and polytechnics in the 1980s.