AIADMK interim general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said on Tuesday that Chief Minister M.K. Stalin ordered DVAC searches on several premises linked to former Ministers C. Vijayabaskar and S.P. Velumani to divert the attention of party workers and prevent them from taking part in the State-wide protest scheduled for Friday against the power tariff increase.
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In a statement, he said it was amusing that the DVAC, which had searched the residences of these former Ministers twice in the past, repeated the exercise for the third time.
Alluding to the Supreme Court’s order restoring a criminal complaint quashed by the Madras High Court against Minister for Electricity V. Senthilbalaji in an alleged bribery case (when he was a member of the Jayalalithaa Cabinet), Mr. Palaniswami wanted to know whether Mr. Stalin would drop him from his Cabinet and facilitate an expeditious probe.
“Regardless of the number of cases being filed against us, we will legally face them and emerge victorious,” he said, urging the police to act impartially and not to yield to the ruling party’s “bullying”.