CHENNAI: A question over industrialist Gautam Adani, who is presently facing bribery charges in the US, resulted in a heated exchange between Chief Minister MK Stalin and PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss on Monday.
In a brief interaction with the media after a government function in Chennai, the chief minister was asked about the allegation that Adani had a closely-guarded meeting with the DMK leadership. While Stalin initially tried to walk away from the interaction, he, however, quickly returned and said the minister of the department concerned had already provided an explanation, referring to the allegations of corruption involving the Adani Group and Tangedco. “Please do not twist it,” Stalin added.
Subsequently, when asked about the allegations on similar lines raised by PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss, Stalin said, “He [Ramadoss] has no other work. Therefore, he keeps on issuing statements every day. There is no need for us to respond to those.” Reacting strongly to the chief minister’s comments, PMK president Dr Anbumani Ramadoss termed the remarks “arrogant” and asserted that it is the CM’s responsibility to clarify to the people of Tamil Nadu whether the alleged meeting with representatives of the Adani Group was official or personal.
On Stalin’s remark that the PMK founder had “no other work”, Anbumani said, “Stalin may have numerous tasks such as secretly meeting Adani, but Dr S Ramadoss’s only work is to think about public welfare, raise his voice for people, and point out the shortcomings of the government. That is exactly what he is doing.”
Anbumani pointed out that documents submitted in a US court reportedly state that people related to the TN government organisation Tangedco received bribes from the Adani Group.
The PMK president further recalled the support provided by his party in 2006 to the DMK to form government when the latter fell short of majority. He said the chief minister should develop “maturity” and “humility” suitable for his position and publicly apologise for his remarks against Dr Ramadoss.
Meanwhile, BJP leaders K Annamalai and Tamilisai Soundararajan also condemned the chief minister for his remarks. In a post on his X handle, Annamalai termed the remarks as “absolutely reprehensible.” Condemning the remarks, Dr Soundararajan said the chief minister should not be “arrogant”.