CHENNAI: DMK President MK Stalin on Thursday accepted the challenge posed by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami to openly debate the corruption charges, which he levelled against the ruling party; but with certain conditions. Stalin, in a statement, said that he was ready to accept the Chief Minister’s invite, but before that, the CM has to fulfil two conditions.
“One, he should take steps to vacate the stay obtained in the Supreme Court for a CBI probe into the highways tender scam case. Second, he should adopt a resolution in the cabinet to request the State Governor to permit an inquiry into the allegations levelled against AIADMK ministers.
Likewise, the Chief Minister should also give in writing to the Governor that he is prepared to face probe for the charges levelled against him,” Stalin said. The DMK chief assured that once these conditions are met, he would be ready to take the challenge and asked Palaniswami to fix the date and place for the debate.
It may be recalled that, the Chief Minister, in his campaign at Athani in Erode district, on Wednesday, said, “Stalin has been levelling a series of false allegations against us. I am ready to answer the questions you (Stalin) ask. But you have to respond to my questions too.”
Corrigendum
In the article, “MK Surappa row: Inquiry panel seeks more documents”, which was published in these columns on Thursday, it was incorrectly reported that the Anna University Vice Chancellor MK Surapa had submitted relevant documents to the inquiry panel. Surappa has clarified that the documents were submitted by the varsity and not him. The error is regretted.