Says Ministers too should be asked to go for poll offences
Alleging that Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and a few of his cabinet colleagues had abused the State machinery to bribe voters in the R.K. Nagar Assembly constituency ahead of the byelection, DMK working president M.K Stalin has urged Tamil Nadu Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao to call for their resignation.
In a letter to the Governor, the DMK leader said that besides the Chief Minister, cabinet members including K.A. Sengottaiyan, Dindigul C. Srinivasan, P. Thangamani, S.P. Velumani, D. Jayakumar, Sellur K. Raju, M.C. Sampath, V.M. Rajalakshmi, Vellamandi N. Natarajan and S. Valarmathi had prima facie committed electoral offences, and had thereby violated their oath of office.
Conspiracy alleged
The letter was handed over to the Governor in Mumbai by the party’s principal secretary, Duraimurugan, who was accompanied by MPs R.S. Bharathi and Tiruchi N. Siva.
Mr. Stalin alleged that AIADMK (Amma) faction candidate T.T.V. Dhinakaranentered into a conspiracy with Mr. Palaniswami and Health Minister C. Vijaya Baskar to spend ₹100 crore to bribe every voter in the R.K. Nagar constituency.
“We have information that they have instructed party workers to go house by house to pay up to ₹10,000 per voter and to distribute gifts like lamps, sarees, dhotis and milk tokens. They misused the administrative machinery including police vans and official cars fitted with red lights to carry the cash meant for distribution to the voters,” he alleged.
