Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Sunday said the Income Tax (I-T) Department and the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) were the BJP’s “alliance partners” and were used only to settle scores with the party’s political rivals.
“They are targeting our party leaders one by one. Now Minister E.V. Velu has been subjected to the raids. But the conviction rate in cases filed by the I-T Department and the ED is not even one percent,” Mr. Stalin said at a training programme for DMK booth agents of Chennai region in Tiruvallur district.
Since Mr. Stalin was indisposed, his speech was read out by Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development Udhayanidhi Stalin. Mr. Stalin, however, made brief introductory remarks.
He alleged that the BJP government had resorted to intimidatory tactics because the DMK and the Opposition’s INDIA bloc had exposed the national party’s anti-people policies. “The BJP is daydreaming that it can rein in the DMK, similar to how it had intimidated the AIADMK. But the DMK cannot be cowed down. We have faced such threats in the last 75 years and emerged victorious.”
Mr. Stalin further said that the I-T Department and the ED had specifically targeted governments in States ruled by Opposition parties. Officials of these agencies would not even leave their offices in the States ruled by the BJP, he added.
‘BJP’s puppet’
‘The BJP government at the Centre had not implemented any special programme for Tamil Nadu and the AIADMK continued to function as the BJP’s puppet, he said, adding: “We have to convey the message to the people. They [the AIADMK and the BJP] are enacting a drama that they are no longer allies. We have to expose it.”
The AIADMK and the BJP candidates cannot retain their deposits irrespective of whether they contest as allies or independently in the upcoming Lok Sabha election, the Chief Minister added.
