Bharathi also gave out the dates of the action taken on the case by the then AIADMK government to drive home the point that the CBI probe was not ordered by Palaniswami on his own but he was left with no other option
Chennai: The court verdict on the Pollachi sex scandal, sentencing all the accused to life, triggered an angry exchange of words between the DMK and AIADMK as to who was responsible for handing over the case to the CBI that ultimately led to Tuesday's historic judgment that everyone is going gaga over now.
It started with a short message on X by Chief Minister M K Stalin, who said justice had been rendered to the cruel act committed by criminals including a AIADMK functionary and asked the ‘sirs,’ who tried to protect that camp comprising the accused from the AIADMK, to hang their heads in shame.
Responding to it in X, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said that his government, which was in power when the sex scandal broke out in 2019, arrested the accused and did not safeguard him like the DMK government did with the accused in the Anna University rape case just because he was a DMK sympathiser.
Pointing out that the accused in the Anna University case had entertained the State Health MInister M Subramanian with a feast at his house, serving him biriyani, he asked as to who should hang the head in shame? The Chief Minister should hang his head in shame for his failure to take action against his Health Minister and the Deputy Mayor of Chennai, Palaniswami said.
Referring to the ‘sir’ mentioned by the accused in the Anna University rape case, the AIADMK leader said that the ‘sir’ had not been identified so far and the Chief Minister should hang his head in shame for that.
He also referred to other cases in the DMK rule and said Stalin should hang his head in shame over the number of POCSO cases being registered and for fighting in favour of the accused in the sexual assault of a 10-year-old child in Annanagar by going on appeal to the High Court spending public funds.
Responding to that message, DMK organization secretary R S Bharathi said that holding aloft the ‘CBI shield’ Palaniswami was trying to masquerade as a ‘saint’ while the truth was that as Chief Minister he was reluctant to hand over the case to the CBI till the end and had to finally give in because the High Court raised some questions on it.
If the DMK, women’s organisations and students had not launched protests all over the State at that time when the scandal broke out he would not have handed over the case to the CBI, Bharathi said, adding that there was a bid to cover up the entire case when it came to light that an AIADMK functionary was involved in the crime .
Bharathi also gave out the dates of the action taken on the case by the then AIADMK government to drive home the point that the CBI probe was not ordered by Palaniswami on his own but he was left with no other option.
Other leaders who hailed the verdict were BJP State President Nainar Nagenthiran, PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss, who wanted the compensation for the victims of the Pollachi scandal to be raised to rupees one crore per person and the Anna University rape case handed over to the CBI, and the AMMK leader T T V Dhinakaran.
