‘I only disclosed what DMK leader said’: Palaniswami on Karunanidhi ‘house arrest’ row; Stalin hits back | India News
New Delhi: AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday announced that if the party comes to power after the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections on April 23, his government will investigate a viral video in which senior DMK Leader A Raja has reportedly claimed that Chief Minister and DMK supremo MK Stalin kept his late father M Karunanidhi under “house arrest” during the last days of the DMK veteran. Palaniswami insisted that Stalin should express his anger at the king, not at him. “Mr Stalin, don’t vent your anger on me. Direct it to your deputy general secretary and former union minister A Raja, who released the viral audio. I was only reporting what Raja revealed in his message. Why be upset? Show your anger on Raja, and he will tell the truth. There is no point in taking it out on me,” the former chief minister told Nadu in support of Ra A elections. Tiruvannamalai District. He also claimed that Stalin’s elder brother and former Union Minister MK Alagiri had earlier said that “my father has been imprisoned.” “I have only repeated what Raja expressed. Is it justified to keep your own father, who made you DMK working president, locked up in his house in his last days? Your elder brother Alagiri said that his father was imprisoned,” added Palaniswami. Recalling Stalin’s announcement ahead of the 2021 assembly elections, ordering a probe into AIADMK leader and former chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s 2016 death and her 75-day hospitalization, Palaniswami remarked, “You said you will probe the death of the former chief minister. Karunanidhi was also a former chief minister. Appropriate legal action will be taken by probing Raja’s audio.“ Responding to the allegations, Stalin dismissed them as “baseless and offensive” and warned Palaniswami to focus his criticism on the Chief Minister’s performance. He insisted that Karunanidhi was resting due to age-related ailments and accused Palaniswami of “crossing all red lines”. Counting of votes for all 234 assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu is scheduled on May 4.
