Stalin, Palaniswami's war of words on social media over former's Delhi visit to attend NITI Aayog meet

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin’s decision to attend the meeting of the NITI Ayog’s Governing Council in New Delhi on May 24 after boycotting last year’s conference has put him on the defensive after opposition AIADMK alleged that he was visiting the national capital only to “save his family” following the Enforcement Directorate’s raids in the liquor scam.

Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami said while Stalin’s father (M Karunanidhi) travelled to New Delhi in 2011 to save his daughter Kanimozhi from the 2G scam, the son is now making a trip to save thambi (a reference to individuals considered close to the first family who have come under the ED scanner).

“The need for showing a white umbrella has come,” Palaniswami said in a cryptic tweet.

In response to Palaniswami’s allegations, Stalin issued a strongly-worded statement by reiterating that he was attending the meeting only to protect Tamil Nadu’s rightful financial entitlement.

“Even though leaders at whose feet he fell changed from Sasikala to Amit Shah, Palaniswami’s habit of holding leg under the table has not changed. Why does he worry about me visiting Delhi?” Stalin asked. He was referring to Palaniswami falling at the feet of Sasikala after he was elected as the leader of the AIADMK legislature party in February 2017.

Isn’t Palaniswami, who changed his stance on an alliance with BJP immediately after raids by Central agencies targeted his relatives, ashamed to talk about my visit to New Delhi, he asked.

“Stalin’s hand always hoists DMK’s black and red flag. I will always hoist the flag of rights. I will not back down. Even today, my government has filed a case in the Supreme Court for the rights of Tamil Nadu. I will firmly stand by the stand I have taken. I will fight for and obtain the funds for Tamil Nadu,” Stalin added.

The ED investigation targeting the top brass of state-run liquor retailer TASMAC – its managing director S Visakan IAS was grilled for about 20 hours over two days following extensive searches at his office and residence – last week has rattled the DMK government. It had approached the Madras High Court seeking to declare the raids at TASMAC headquarters in March as “illegal”, but the court dismissed the petitions and gave the green signal for the ED to continue with its investigation.

Through last week’s raids, the ED has now extended the probe to Akash Bhaskaran, Ratheesh Velu, who is considered to be close to top DMK functionaries, a few contractors, and an executive of a bottling firm linked to TASMAC. Bhaskaran and Ratheesh are suspected of acting as conduits for laundering unaccounted money linked to TASMAC, while the latter is widely believed to have escaped from the country before the searches by the ED.