VILLUPURAM: AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami asked Chief Minister M K Stalin to direct his anger on his party leader A Raja for purportedly making a remark saying his father M Karunanidhi was kept in “house arrest” in his final days, and said on Saturday that he would order a probe into the claims made in theviral audio after AIADMK forms the government.
Stalin’s elder brother MK Alagiri had gone on record saying that “my father is being held as a prisoner,” Palaniswami said at an election rally at Arani in Tiruvannamalai.
“Mr Stalin, don’t vent your anger on me, direct it on your deputy general secretary and former union minister A Raja, who released the audio which went viral. I had mentioned what Raja said in his audio message,” Palaniswami said.
Addressing an election campaign meeting in Villupuram in support of NDA candidates, EPS further alleged that the chief minister was attempting to mislead the people by portraying this election as one between Tamil Nadu and New Delhi. “This is an attempt to mislead the people,” he said.
“The only achievement of the DMK government in the last five years has been stalling the schemes brought by AIADMK.”
Palaniswami said the AIADMK-led NDA was a strong alliance and alleged that the DMK-led alliance lacked a common policy.
“The people of Tamil Nadu are politically aware and capable of thinking before voting. They have decided to remove the DMK government which has been misleading them,” he said. He alleged that no beneficial schemes had been introduced in the last five years. “Schemes such as the gold for thali, free laptop scheme and mini clinics announced during the AIADMK regime were stalled by the DMK government,” he said.
Alleging corruption across sectors, he referred to a case against a former minister from the district and said it had been disposed of in court. “When AIADMK returns to power, evidence will be properly submitted in court and the case will be proved. Action will be taken against officials who gave false testimony,” he said.
He also criticised the DMK alliance, stating that its members had not raised people’s issues in the Assembly over the past five years and had instead supported the ruling party.