 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.Internal rivalry in the DMK party emerged between T. R. Baalu and S.S. Palanimanickam in 2012, when T. R. Baalu initiated a survey for railway lines in Thanjavur district and T. R. Baalu wished to contest from Thanjavur in 2014 Indian general election and the DMK controversially denied Palanimanickam a ticket however Baalu lost the elections.However Palanimanickam was given the party ticket in the 2019 Indian general election and was elected to the Lok Sabha, lower house of the Parliament of India from Thanjavur again.