TIRUCHY/DINDIGUL: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Monday defended his remarks against late DMK leaders, claiming they were made in retaliation to comments by DMK ministers and MLAs. Campaigning in Tiruchy, Palaniswami hit back at Chief Minister MK Stalin for criticising his comments, and alleged that DMK leaders had earlier made derogatory remarks against iconic leaders such as K Kamaraj, J Jayalalithaa and MG Ramachandran. “We are only retaliating,” he said.
Referring to his comments on the hospitalisation of former CM M Karunanidhi, EPS said they were based on a leaked audio purportedly involving DMK leader A Raja. He also raised the issue of the illegal kidney transplant racket in Tiruchy, claiming that despite a government-appointed panel flagging irregularities linked to a hospital associated with a DMK MLA, no action has been taken against those running the facility. “Only middlemen were arrested,” he alleged.
Palaniswami said that if the DMK MLA was re-elected, “kidneys of all people in the constituency would be stolen”. He further accused ministers KN Nehru and Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi of corruption and said he would order probes against them if AIADMK is voted to power. The AIADMK chief also alleged that the DMK government had misused the ‘Ooraniyil Tamil Nadu’ programme to collect personal data, which were later used for political messaging.
Addressing a public meeting in Dindigul, EPS also criticised the DMK’s promise of providing Rs 8,000 coupons, claiming it could lead to corruption. “During the AIADMK regime, funds were directly transferred to beneficiaries’ bank accounts. With coupons, intermediaries — mainly DMK functionaries — may demand commission for distributing them, and beneficiaries will have limited choice in purchases,” he said.