Chennai: Namadhu MGR and Jaya TV, AIADMK's mouthpiece during J. Jayalalithaa's lifetime, have now become “propaganda machinery” of the DMK, fisheries minister D. Jayakumar said on Tuesday, tearing into the V. K. Sasikala family that runs the channel for airing an interview of DMK veteran Duraimurugan.
Airing of Duraimurugan's full-length interview on Jaya TV is the “biggest proof” that Sasikala family has aligned with the DMK to “spew venom” on the AIADMK and its government installed by late Jayalalithaa, Jayakumar further charged.
Jaya TV, currently run by the Sasikala family, has been blacking out news about the government ever since Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami rebelled against Dhinakaran and on Sunday it went a step further by airing an interview of Durai Murugan in which he criticised the I-T raids and spoke at length about Governor Banwarilal Purohit's review meeting with officials.
Jayakumar, who had closely worked with Jayalalithaa, said Duraimurugan's interview on Jaya TV intrigued him much more than anything in the past since it was the DMK leader who had assaulted his late leader on the floor of the Tamil Nadu Assembly in 1989.
He was referring to Jayalalithaa being attacked in Assembly by DMK MLAs, the incident that played a major role behind Jayalalithaa's meteoric rise in Tamil Nadu politics.
“Namadhu MGR has now become Murasoli (mouthpiece of the DMK) and Jaya TV has become Karunanidhi's channel. Jaya TV has aired an interview of Duraimurugan. The channel was launched to propagate AIADMK's ideals and never in the past, the channel entertained DMK leaders. Now, it has carried an interview of Duraimurugan,” he said.
“What more proof is needed to prove that the Sasikala family is aligned with the DMK than interviewing Duraimurugan? Who is Duraimurugan? He is the same person who assaulted our Amma in the Assembly in 1990. How can Jaya TV interview the person who has been against AIADMK from the beginning,” Jayakumar asked.
The EPS-OPS faction of the AIADMK has been accusing the TTV camp and DMK of joining forces to target the government on various counts. To a question, Jayakumar said the AIADMK was prepared to face the by-elections to R K Nagar constituency and was not scared.
