Questioning the appropriateness of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley calling on the former Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, who is convicted in a disproportionate assets case, DMK leader M. Karunanidhi described as “blatant lie” Mr. Jaitley’s explanation that it was a courtesy call.
Recalling Mr. Jaitley’s assertion that he met Ms. Jayalalithaa with the approval of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr. Karunanidhi said it had given rise to doubts whether the Prime Minister was also ‘colluding’ in all this. The DMK leader recalled that after the BJP came to power at the Centre, Ms. Jayalalithaa had met Mr. Jaitely in Delhi, in the backdrop of her income tax cases pending then in court. “What will the people of the country think about the meeting now? Will they not think that there is more to the meeting than meets the eye,” he said.
Though the BJP government pledged to uphold integrity and honesty, its activities proved to be totally against its promises. “The cat is out of bag,” he observed.
In the past, former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha had met Ms. Jayalalithaa and she had given a letter in connection with the income tax case against her. “He [Mr. Sinha] had recorded the incident in his book,” he claimed.
Elangovan: BJP’s true face unmaskedTNCC president EVKS Elangovan said that by his gesture, Mr. Jaitley had blatantly violated all ethical principles in politics. “He has actually unmasked the BJP’s true face when it comes to opposing corruption.” On the one hand, the BJP was talking about creating a Tamil Nadu without any space for the Dravidian parties, and on the other the Union Finance Minister was meeting a former Chief Minister.”
Mr. Elangovan alleged that the AIADMK, after winning 37 Lok Sabha seats on an anti-BJP plank, had surrendered itself before the BJP government “to curry favour for Ms. Jayalalithaa”.
DMK treasurer M.K. Stalin said that for the first time in the history of a democratic nation, people had witnessed the Finance Minister of a country going to the house of a person convicted for corruption.
“It is a disgrace. Is there any integrity left in the Union government headed by the BJP,” Mr. Stalin wondered in his Facebook post.
Mr. Stalin wanted to know whether the Centre would work towards getting her acquitted in the disproportionate assets case, presently before a Special Bench of the Karnataka High Court. “These questions need answers,” he said.
