A day after AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami criticised Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s official visit to Singapore and Japan, Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu said on Wednesday that the former Chief Minister was trying to divert attention from the acts of corruption allegedly committed by two Ministers of the AIADMK government.
In a statement, he condemned Mr. Palaniswami’s statement and referred to the gutkha scam, the Pollachi sexual scandal and the police firing in Thoothukudi that killed 13 persons during the protests against the Sterlite plant when the AIADMK was in power.
Mr. Thennarasu also alleged that Mr. Palaniswami led a rally to the Raj Bhavan recently only to divert attention from the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption filing charge sheets in a disproportionate assets case against two of his party colleagues who were Ministers in the AIADMK government.
“The visit of his son Mithun — before the then Chief Minister’s visit to some foreign countries, including the U.S. — prompts questions whether it was to invest the money of Mr. Palaniswami obtained through corrupt means,” he said.
Referring to the foreign visits by AIADMK Ministers, Mr. Thennarasu asked whether they too were aimed at investing abroad their money obtained through corrupt means. “Will Mr. Palaniswami, who spreads rumours about Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, explain why his son and his erstwhile Cabinet colleagues went abroad?”
Criticising the Global Investors Meets organised when the AIADMK was in power, Mr. Thennarasu reiterated that not much of the investment assured at the events had materialised. Referring to the charge sheets filed against two former AIADMK Ministers and also the case against Mr. Palaniswami, the Minister said, “The law will take its own course”.
