Ready for face-to-face debate on graft charges with LoP: CM

Launching a broadside at the DMK chief, Palaniswami questioned the futility of conducting it and said such an effort would have legal sanctity only if they were convened by the government and asked the people not to be misled by the DMK leader’s meetings. He said nothing beneficial would emerge from them.

Palaniswami, on a two-day election campaign in Erode district, sought to know if Stalin’s meetings were really worth it. “He (Stalin) is conducting Makkal Gram Sabha (people’s gram sabha) only to blame the government and to mislead the people,” the Chief Minister said addressing a meeting at Bhavani in Erode.

“He had held similar meetings during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and received petitions from the people. What is the current status of those petitions? To whom did he submit those petitions or did he take any steps to resolve their grievances?” Palaniswami asked.

On Stalin’s recent announcement that he would submit the second list of corruption charges against Ministers to Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Palaniswami said the DMK president had earlier submitted a petition to Purohit, levelling baseless corruption charges with regard to projects for which tenders are yet to be floated.

“How can he say corruption took place when the work is yet to start,” the Chief Minister wondered.

With a number of cases pending against senior DMK leaders, Palaniswami sarcastically remarked many of them would not be able to contest the elections if the court expedited the cases.

Later, at Anthiyur, Palaniswami said he was ready to face any inquiry over the corruption charges levelled by Stalin. He said he was ready for a one-to-one meeting with the DMK leader in a public place where he would respond to Stalin’s charges.