Chennai: “The 18 MLAs are cheating the people and betraying the AIADMK after winning their seats by using the money given by TTV Dhinakaran, which he got from the loot made by Jayalalithaa”. That was a bombshell not from any opposition politician but a charge made by forest minister Dindigul C. Sreenivasan.
The ‘howler’ became a huge hit on social media and regional newspapers, besides the TV channels. The minister could not be reached on phone despite several attempts by DC to get his version on what perhaps was a ‘genuine slip of the tongue’.
Actually, the affable AIADMK functionary is not new to such very embarrassing guffaws. Sometime back, he apologised in a public meeting for wrongly claiming to have seen Jayalalithaa eating idli and chutney in her Apollo Hospital ward. “We lied that Amma ate idli and chutney in Apollo. Please forgive us, makkaley (oh, people)”, the minister had told at the Anna birth anniversary rally in Madurai last September.
In another ‘memorable’ statement around that time, Sreenivasan told a public meeting that Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam had gone to Delhi to discuss the Dengue outbreak with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Admittedly, such minor slips are not uncommon when hardworking politicos handle too many responsibilities amid trying times. If only Amma is around, she would have made things much easier for Sreenivasan.
