‘Rs 4-lakh crore corruption under DMK govt’: EPS memorandum to Guv RN Ravi presses for probe

Slamming the DMK government of MK Stalin for alleged untrammelled corruption, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) submitted a memorandum, listing department-wise corruption charges totalling over Rs 4 lakh crore, to Governor RN Ravi at the Lok Bhavan on Tuesday and pressed for a speedy probe.

After submitting the memorandum accompanied by senior party colleagues, EPS told the media that he had requested the governor to take steps to constitute a Commission of Inquiry headed by a former judge of the Supreme Court to probe the allegations. He also asked whether any Tamil electronic media had held a debate or a talk show on the ‘massive corruption’ under the DMK government in the last four and a half years.

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“Corruption and administrative ineptitude of this government had landed Tamil Nadu in a vicious debt burden. In the last four and a half years the government had borrowed Rs 4 lakh crore. Each year, the government has borrowed Rs One lakh crore and the DMK is adept at scientific corruption,” he alleged.

Topping the list in the memorandum is the corruption in the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department under KN Nehru with Rs 64,000 crore crore, followed by Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (Rs 60,000 crore) and the state’s wholesale liquor retailer TASMAC (Rs 60,000 crore).

He claimed that Chief Minister MK Stalin is announcing new schemes like free laptop distribution for college students and Pongal cash gift of Rs 3000 for rice ration card holders with an eye on the assembly election expected in March-April this year. “It is a clear indication that the ruling DMK is apprehensive of defeat. It is suffering from the fear of defeat. Every move of the government is aimed at the election,” he said but welcomed the resumption of laptop distribution launched during the Jayalalithaa government.