Corruption and other criminal cases pending against around 10 former DMK Ministers will be tried by a special court the State government had set up recently, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami said here on Sunday. He said he was confident that the former Ministers would be found guilty and punished by the court.
Acting on the Supreme Court’s direction, the State government had established a special court in Chennai to try criminal cases against MPs and MLAs.
Addressing an event marking the 47th foundation day of the AIADMK in Veerapandi town, Mr. Palaniswami said the first case to have been transferred to this court was one pending against DMK chief M.K. Stalin.
Cases of a serious nature pending against 10 or 11 former DMK Ministers would be tried by this court, the Chief Minister said.
Mr. Palaniswami claimed that Mr. Stalin was levelling various “unsubstantiated” corruption charges against his government as he was apprehensive about facing the court’s punishment. “He is levelling false charges to divert the attention of the people,” he alleged.
‘Scientific corruption’
According to him, the DMK and corruption were inseparable.
The scam in the purchase of pesticides and serious irregularities in the execution of the Veeranam project were still lingering in the minds of the people, the CM said, adding, “The DMK regimes of the past were famous for ‘scientific corruption’, and the people are well aware that they institutionalised corrupt practices.”
Cadre strength
Mr. Palaniswami said the DMK had caused untold hardship to late AIADMK leaders M.G. Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa. But these leaders fought back to prove their popularity with the masses and keep the DMK out of power. This was made possible by the committed workforce of the AIADMK, he said.
The ruling party had taken initiatives to further strengthen its base. At present, the party accounted for more than 1.2 crore cadre, and would soon attain a cadre strength of 2 crore, he claimed.
