CHENNAI: DMK mouthpiece Murasoli, in an editorial on Thursday, urged the AIADMK leadership to hand over former minister KT Rajenthra Bhalaji to the police as it is a disgrace to the opposition party that one of its former ministers has been on the run from police for several weeks.
With the editorial, the DMK broke its silence on the Rajenthra Bhalaji case and came down heavily on the former minister and the AIADMK. The editorial added that it is the duty of the AIADMK to hand Bhalaji over to the police. It recalled the many controversial statements Bhalaji made in interviews and at public gatherings such as “Modi is our daddy”, “Kamal Haasan should be hanged”, and “Let Muslims go to Pakistan.’
The editorial said Bhalaji was a minister in former CM J Jayalalithaa’s Cabinet and, subsequently, in Edappadi K Palaniswami’s as well. As he is now a district secretary of the AIADMK, the party should take his hiding as a disgrace. AIADMK spokespersons refused to comment on this.
Political observer and veteran journalist Tharasu Shyam said, “When similar cases were filed against former ministers in 1996 by the then DMK government, Jayalalithaa instructed the former ministers not to move court for anticipatory bails; she asked them to surrender before the police. She, too, didn’t seek any bail in cases registered against her.” Shyam said the former minister’s act of absconding only serves to portray him as a political coward. It won’t help his political career. He should surrender, he said.
Former MLA quizzed
Virudhunagar: The District Crime Branch police on Thursday inquired former Sattur MLA MSR Rajavarman in connection with the cases registered against AIADMK former minister KT Rajenthra Bhalaji. Sources said, police picked up the former MLA from in the morning and quizzed him. Rajavarman claimed he was not aware of his whereabouts. Police brought in personal assistants of the ex-minister — Srinivasaperumal and Krishnaraja – for questioning on Bhalaji’s financial dealings. Meanwhile, a police team left for Karnataka in search of Bhalaji on Thursday after a tip-off