DMK working president M.K. Stalin on Wednesday sought Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao’s intervention to ensure independence of the State Vigilance Commission.
He also urged the Governor to direct the Chief Secretary to appoint a DGP-level officer as the Director of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption so that the anti-corruption machinery in the State could be restored.
The post of State Vigilance Commissioner was given as additional charge to successive chief secretaries in the AIADMK regime after the unceremonious transfer of R. Balakrishnan two weeks after the AIADMK government assumed office in 2011.
“Since then, the State Vigilance Commission has remained headless and robbed of its independence,” he said, recalling the order of the Supreme Court that the Central Vigilance Commission should be given a statutory status.
“It applies equally to the State Vigilance Commission as the mandate of the commission is to eradicate corruption in the State,” he said.
Thambidurai flayed
Meanwhile, Former School Education Minister Thangam Thennarasu on Tuesday took exception to Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M. Thambidurai’s allegation that the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) was planned during the Congress regime, saying his remarks had actually insulted rural students, whose dreams of becoming medical professionals were shattered by NEET.
In a statement, he said the DMK was the first political party to oppose the proposal to conduct NEET when the Congress-led UPA was in power, and that the MCI’s plan was cancelled by the Supreme Court on July 18, 2013.
‘Selective amnesia’
“It is unfortunate that Mr. Thambidurai is not able to remember these details. Probably he is suffering from selective amnesia and is functioning like a spokesperson for the BJP government,” he said.
Mr. Thennarasu said the DMK fully supported the resolution adopted in the State Assembly to dispense with NEET and the same was awaiting the President’s approval. “Mr. Thambidurai could have taken up the issue with the President and the Home Minister. He is obsessed with making Ms. Sasikala the Chief Minister and T.T.V. Dhinakaran the deputy general secretary of the party,” he said.
BJP’s charge
Meanwhile, BJP national secretary H. Raja said that by taking away the Vigilance portfolio from Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan, the State government had shown its reluctance to act against Ministers and bureaucrats reported to have taken bribes from mining baron Sekhar Reddy.
Addressing mediapersons in Coimbatore on Wednesday, he noted that the State government had issued an order divesting the Chief Secretary of the Vigilance portfolio and handing it over to the Home Secretary.
“This gives weightage to reports that the Income Tax department has written to the Centre, complaining about the State government’s delay in acting against the politicians and bureaucrats whose names were mentioned in Mr. Reddy’s diary,” he said.
