SALEM: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami denied the DMK’s accusation that Rajya Sabha MP RS Bharathi’s arrest was politically motivated and said the police action was based on a complaint by an individual.
There is no political intention or government interference in the arrest of the DMK MP, he added. Speaking to reporters at Salem, the CM termed DMK chief MK Stalin’s statement on Bharathi’s arrest a joke.
“The DMK party functionary allegedly made a derogatory statement against Scheduled Caste people. Based on a complaint lodged by one Kalyanasundaram on March 12, a case registered against him under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Now, police have taken legal action based on a complaint by an individual,” the CM said.
Condemning Stalin’s statement, he added, “The DMK plans to get political mileage on this issue. The opposition leader should have condemned his party functionary when he made this type of statement against Scheduled Caste people. Without doing that, Stalin is blaming others. People should understand their motive behind this.”
“Bharathi is making corruption allegations against the government and getting media attention through that. The media should probe these allegations before writing about them. Bharathi raised allegations about a tender. That was an e-tender which is yet to take place. But he alleges that a particular person has got the tender. Since the issue was in court, I could not comment further,” he said.
The CM also said it was estimated that the state would face a financial loss of Rs 35,000 crore in GST revenue due to the two months of lockdown and the government is taking steps to overcome this loss.