CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday accused Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay of falsely taking credit for the arrest of industrialist ‘Gem’ R Veeramani under the Pocso Act in order to gain voter sympathy ahead of the October 6 bypolls.
Addressing the gathering during the second leg of his campaign for the AIADMK’s bypoll candidate in Madurantakam, Palaniswami said the case against Veeramani was first registered under the DMK government, which “took no action on it”. The TVK-led government didn’t move any faster as the government counsel kept seeking adjournments, holding back Veeramani’s arrest for more than two and a half months. The government’s lawyers had sought adjournments on three occasions before the judge lost patience and rebuked them, driving the probe forward. Veeramani was hence arrested on the court’s orders, and not the chief minister’s as Vijay has claimed, he added.
Referring to Vijay’s campaign remarks in Madurantakam on September 25, where the CM claimed his government had arrested Veeramani, Palaniswami called it “a blatant lie”. Vijay, who had earlier acted in films, “has started acting in real life, too,” he said.
Palaniswami then pointed to two TVK ministers, D Logesh Tamil Selvan and P Venkataramanan, whom he said attended the same function as Veeramani. Tamil Selvan even had called Veeramani a family friend, he alleged. “So, the truth has come out that it was the TVK government which protected the person involved in the Pocso case,” he said.
“Had the CM ordered Veeramani’s arrest when the case came up in June, his present claim would have been correct,” he added.
Earlier, addressing media persons, the former CM said 250 murders and 300 sexual assaults on women and girls had occurred since the TVK came to power. “What is the response of the CM to all these crimes?” he asked.
At Ramapuram, Palaniswami said TVK candidate Maragatham Kumaravel had betrayed the voters who had elected her on the AIADMK symbol, and urged them to “teach her a fitting lesson” .