TN CM accuses Stalin of being 'power hungry,' challenges DMK over graft allegations

AIADMK top leader and ChiefMinister K Palaniswami on Wednesday challenged DMK president MK Stalin again to have a debate with him on his allegations ofcorruption against the government and accused him of beingpower hungry.

Palaniswami, in his campaign for the Assembly polls,likely to be held in April,said the leader of the oppositionwas not ready to accept his challenge.

''You (Stalin) should come without a paper slip to debate.

You must not read out from a note prepared by someone else.

List out your claims of corruption and I will answer,''he said.

The AIADMK has often mocked Stalin for 'depending' onpaper slips to address people.

The top ruling party leader addressed multiple publicmeetings in Kancheepuram district, including Sriperumbudurnear here and Uthiramerur.

Palaniswami, referring to Stalin wondering whether hewould continue as Chief Minister after January 27, said 'heshall' as he had the support of the people and party.

V K Sasikala, aide of late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa,is set to be released from a Bengaluru prison on January 27and Palaniswami has ruled out taking her back into the party.

Dismissing as 'lies', the charges of corruption levelledby Stalin in a petition to Governor Banwarilal Purohit, theChief Minister said he was ready to face the DMK leader anddebate at any place to refute his allegations.

The Chief Minister said though he had already (earlierthis month) asked Stalin to turn up for an open debate, theDMK chief was not coming forward to accept his challenge.

''A tender for a road work in Tirunelveli was cancelledabout a year and a half ago. Even without knowing that, Stalinhas made a false claim of Rs 700 crore corruption,'' he said.

In December, DMK had submitted a petition to Purohit,seeking action under the Prevention of Corruption Act andPalaniswami had then too said these were lies and defamatoryin nature.

Palaniswami said he considered ''people as the ChiefMinister,'' and the job of a Chief Minister is to execute theorders of the people.

The DMK chief was however 'power-hungry' and irritatedin his bid to become the Chief Minister and does not 'know'anything about the country, he alleged.

Listing out his government's 'achievements', includingbagging national awards in local administration, watermanagement and education, he exhorted the people to vote forthe 'two-leaves' symbol of the AIADMK.

Unlike 'the DMK' which was for power to the 'family,'AIADMK had always been committed to people and this explainedwhy people continued to venerate late leaders M G Ramachandranand J Jayalalithaa, even years after their death, he said.

The AIADMK has been targeting DMK over 'dynasty'politics.

Accusing Stalin of 'dreaming' to capture power,Palaniswami said when he assumed office in 2017, the DMK chiefhad claimed that the government would fall within 10 days, amonth and so on.

The government has, however, been successful all alongand ''your present dream will never become a reality. Again itwill be Amma's rule in Tamil Nadu,'' he said.

The Chief Minister also said Stalin was deliberatelyengaged in a false propaganda against the government andwondered why the DMK president did not go to villages andinteract with people when his party was in power.

He accused Stalin of winning the 2019 Lok Sabhaelections by 'deceiving' the people.

''You are trying to do that again,'' he said and addedthat if voted to power, only the family and not people,mattered for the DMK.

To DMK's charge that people did not vote in 2016 for himto become the Chief Minister, Palaniswami, in his repartee,said he became the CM after the demise of late leader JJayalalithaa, similar to M Karunanidhi assuming office afterthe death of DMK founder C N Annadurai in 1969.

On Stalin's recent remark that AIADMK would split, healleged the DMK leader's objective was to break up the rulingparty and topple the government.

Stalin had no idea to do good to the people, he alleged.

The DMK leader had recently claimed that there wasconfusion in the AIADMK in connection with the ChiefMinisterial candidate and a 'split' was imminent.

Hitting out at Stalin for 'disregarding' God, he said thedivine power made the DMK president say that his wife visitedall the temples.

Palaniswami alleged that Stalin's son Udhayanidhi was'belittling' women.

The CM was apparently referring to criticism against him(by Udhayanidhi) vis-a-vis Sasikala when she was at the helmin the AIADMK for some time following the death ofJayalalithaa.

He asked Udhayanidhi to respect women.

''Your father is the leader of the opposition now. He willlose that position too because of you.'' 'Unruliness' is DMK's characteristic and if voted topower, the law and order situation would deteriorate, he saidand urged people to support the AIADMK.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)