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Journalism of Courage
A day after meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi, AIADMK general secretary and former chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday indicated a truce with the Tamil Nadu BJP unit, and said that he has no problems with state BJP chief K Annamalai, whom he had earlier criticised.
“I have no issues with them (state BJP leadership),” he told the media here. “If there were issues, we wouldn’t have campaigned together for the Erode East bypoll. The media is fabricating these reports to create discord between us.”
Annamalai also was present in Palaniswami’s meeting with Shah on Wednesday.
Stepping up pressure on the DMK-led government, Palaniswami, popularly called EPS, said that during the meeting, he had requested Shah to hold a detailed probe into allegations of corruption by DMK’s “first family”. His demand was in reference to two recently leaked audio clips, purportedly featuring state Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, popularly called PTR, allegedly discussing corruption within the DMK.
Annamalai, who put out the audio clips on social media, had on Sunday led a BJP delegation to meet Governor R N Ravi and had tweeted that they urged Ravi to hold an inquiry “in the audio tape of the State Finance Minister mentioning that the DMK 1st family made Rs 30,000 crores in a year thru corrupt means”.
Calling the clips “fabricated”, PTR said in a statement, “I strongly and specifically deny having said to any individual personally or on the phone at any point of time what is contained in the audio clip being circulated on social media, the source of which nobody accepts ownership for.”
Reports of the AIADMK’s fallout with alliance partner BJP began emerging after Palaniswami’s remarks on April 15, suggesting that Annamalai is an inexperienced leader. The former CM also remarked against Annamalai following the latter’s veiled threat against AIADMK, suggesting that he would expose alleged corruption in the party.
The state BJP chief’s controversial statement that the “DMK files,” which he unveiled as a corruption report against the ruling party, will expose all parties that have been at the helm in the state so far also apparently left the AIADMK leader peeved. Reacting to it, Palaniswami stated that individuals working in political parties should understand the basics. “I am ready to answer, but only when asked about mature politicians,” he had said, noting that he has spent five decades in politics.
On Thursday, EPS said that it is “shocking” that the state Finance Minister allegedly discussed a corruption scandal involving Rs 30,000 crore in the DMK.
Palaniswami said: “He [allegedly] mentioned two names in it — Sabareesan (Chief Minister M K Stalin’s son-in-law) and Udhayanidhi Stalin (state Sports Minister and Stalin’s son). The voice claims both individuals are unsure what to do with that Rs 30,000 crore. This matter needs detailed investigation. Claims are being made that the tapes were forged… but the key point is that Rajan (PTR) only responded to this audio after it was reported by the media. I raised this issue with Shah in our meeting and demanded an investigation.”
On the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)’s recent indication of alleged misuse of funds across several state departments under the previous AIADMK government, Palaniswami said the CAG did not specifically identify any “irregularities” but merely noted that the funds remained unspent. He attributed the unutilised funds to constraints imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
