CHENNAI: Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami hit back at DMK president M. K. Stalin on the Kodanadu estate case saying his ‘Amma’ government would order an enquiry based on the strong suspicions of the people on the DMK’s role in the estate murder case. The CM described the opposition party as an ‘Agmark’ certified corrupt party whose leader frequently disrupted Assembly proceedings.
“Forgetting that it was the AIADMK government that had exposed the Kodanadu estate heist and murders, Stalin talks as if I was involved in the case. It was the DMK that ensured bail to the accused,” he said on Sunday, his third day of his poll campaign in Vellore district. Claiming that people suspected that the DMK has a role in the estate case, he sought to know why that party ensured the accused got bail. “People strongly suspect the DMK’s role in the murders. Amma government will take up investigation in this angle too,” he added.
In April 2017, the security guard of the Kodanad estate belonging to late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa in the Nilgiris district, was found dead. Ten people had been arrested in connection with the robbery attempt at the estate bungalow which was used by Jayalalithaa for both official and residential purposes. Two key accused — C Kanagaraj and K.V. Sayan — had alleged that Mr Palaniswami was involved in the Kodanadu heist in a video released by journalist Mathew Samuel in Delhi. The CM, however, rejected the charges and later filed a defamation suit in the Madras high court which had restrained Samuel and six others, including Sayan and Manoj, from making any statement linking him to the case.
Campaigning at Arakkonam seeking votes for alliance partners, the New Justice Party chief A.C. Shanmugham and PMK leader A.K. Moorthy, Mr Palaniswami said the DMK was synonymous with corruption and it has been given the ‘Agmark’ certification for corruption. “You don’t have any locus standi to talk about me,” he said. Also, the CM denied that he had ever projected himself as god. “I have never said I am god. He (Stalin) doesn’t pray to god but his family members pray to god in their houses. But we are not like that. We have faith in god and I pray to the god of my choice. This is an individual’s freedom and no one can curtail it. Please don’t insult gods,” he added.
