National and International Appointments

Jayalalithaa (J. Jayalalithaa) of the AIADMK party became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in May 2011 after the state assembly elections. She took oath on May 16, 2011, so on May 18, 2011, she was indeed the serving CM. M. Karunanidhi was the previous CM from the DMK party, while M. Stalin (now the current CM) was not in power in 2011. Mamata Banerjee is associated with West Bengal politics, not Tamil Nadu.

P. Chidambaram was Home Minister during UPA-2 (2008-2012). Note: This is a time-sensitive question - correct only for 2008-2012 period. Pranab Mukherjee (typo in option A) was Finance Minister, not Home Minister.

S.H. Kapadia was Chief Justice of India from May 2010 to September 2012. Y.K. Sabharwal was his predecessor, Altamas Kabir his successor. Bimal Jalan was a RBI Governor, not CJI.

Montek Singh Ahluwalia served as Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission from 2004-2014 under UPA government. Dr. Manmohan Singh was Prime Minister, Yashwant Sinha was from opposition BJP.

Meira Kumar was Speaker of Lok Sabha from 2009-2014, first woman to hold the post. Karia Munda was deputy speaker. Somnath Chatterjee was her predecessor (2004-2009).

This question refers to a specific political event where Thangabalu (a Congress leader) resigned after an election loss. This appears to reference Tamil Nadu politics (EVKS Ilangovan and Jayanthi Natarajan are also Congress figures from that state). The other options are other Congress leaders but not the one who resigned under these specific circumstances.

Praveen Kumar (IAS) served as the Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu during the 2011 Legislative Assembly elections. He was responsible for overseeing the election process in the state. The other names listed are not associated with this position in Tamil Nadu during 2011.

The Prime Minister of India traditionally serves as the ex-officio Chairman of the Planning Commission (now replaced by NITI Aayog). Therefore, Manmohan Singh, as Prime Minister, would have been the Chairman. The Planning Commission was a key body for India's economic planning until 2014.

Mamata Banerjee has been the Chief Minister of West Bengal since 2011, leading the Trinamool Congress (TMC) party. She defeated the Left Front government that had ruled the state for over three decades and has been re-elected multiple times.

B.S. Yeddyurappa served as Chief Minister of Karnataka during multiple periods (2008 and 2019-2021), making him the correct choice among the options. H.D. Kumaraswamy was also a CM of Karnataka, but the question appears to be from a specific time context when Yeddyurappa held the position.