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AIADMK delegation meets guv, accuses DMK of graft, vendetta
The AIADMK submitted a five-page list of litanies to the governor, seeking an investigation and necessary action against the DMK.
Chennai: Accusing the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) of indulging in “corruption, collection and vendetta”, a delegation of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) led by Edappadi Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam on Thursday called on Governor Banwarilal Purohit at the Raj Bhavan to complain against the ruling party, after boycotting the ongoing assembly session.
The AIADMK submitted a five-page list of litanies to the governor, seeking an investigation and necessary action against the DMK. The AIADMK claimed that the agenda of the chief minister MK Stalin-led government is “corruption-collection-vendetta”. Interestingly, when in opposition, Stalin had described the AIADMK’s governance as “corruption-commission-collection”.
The AIADMK has been edgy in what it perceives to be the beginning of troubled times after ruling the state for the past 10 years. On Wednesday, the 2017 heist-cum-murder case at late CM J Jayalalithaa’s Kodanad Estate came up in the assembly, a day after police quizzed the prime accused in the case, Sayan. The AIADMK staged a walkout from the assembly in protest.
Soon after the DMK formed the government in May, in the first few weeks, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) filed corruption cases against AIADMK leaders and raided Palaniswami’s close aide and former municipal administration minister SP Velumani and former transport minister MR Vijayabhaskar. A week ago, the AIADMK formed a six-member committee, comprising senior party leaders and legal brains including former law minister CV Shunmugham, to help party members fight cases. The same team met the governor on Thursday for about 40-minutes.
After the meeting, former CM Palaniswami reiterated that out of “political vendetta”, the DMK was scheming to frame him and his colleagues in the Kodanad case and they were falsely foisting cases against former ministers. On Wednesday, Stalin dismissed the political vendetta charge, saying it was the DMK’s election promise to bring the real culprits involved in the 2017 Kodanad case to book.
On Thursday, Palaniswami countered, “This has nothing to do with their poll promise. This is being overseen by law and is at the closing stage. Weren’t we conducting a fair investigation?”
The principal opposition party said the DMK was doing this to cover up its failure in providing governance. “They have failed to deliver on all fronts and that’s their achievement in 100 days,” Palaniswami said.
He added that the ruling party was influencing the official machinery to bring a quietus to the pending criminal cases against its own members and leaders.
“They (AIADMK) aren’t able to face the consequences of their actions in the past 10 years so they are doing this,” said DMK spokesperson A Saravanan.
Last year, the DMK had submitted a 100-page “chargesheet” against Palaniswami, Panneersevlam and other top ministers to the Governor. It went further in its election manifesto by vowing to establish a special court to try all the former ministers under graft charges.
Meanwhile, the 2017 heist-murder case is haunting the AIADMK. The sprawling bungalow at Kodanad was what Jayalalithaa had bought along with her close aide V K Sasikala in the 1990s. In the early stages of the investigation, the police had alleged that Jayalalithaa’s former driver, C Kanagaraj, plotted the crime with Sayan. Subsequently, Kanagaraj, Sayan’s wife and their daughter died in separate road accidents.
An independent investigation conducted by former managing editor of Tehelka, Mathew Samuel, alleged Palaniswami to be behind the break-in, a charge that the senior AIADMK leader has dismissed.
