Chennai: A fresh bolt has hit the AIADMK government with the Leader of Opposition M K Stalin on Saturday demanding that Governor Banwarilal Purohit immediately dismiss health minister C Vijayabaskar following the media ‘expose’ of Income-Tax seeking action against him for alleged corruption.
In a statement, DMK president Stalin said Vijayabaskar should own moral responsibility and step down voluntarily, failing which Chief Minister K Palaniswami should remove him from his Cabinet. If the CM failed to do so, the “Government should intervene and dismiss the minister for upholding the Constitution”, Stalin said in a statement.
The day began on a sour note for the minister and the government after the popular Tamil TV channel, News18, put out excerpts from the I-T department communication to the TN government seeking action against minister Vijayabaskar as a follow-up of its raids on his various premises, besides the place of his PA, J. Srinivasan at Chennai during the RK Nagar Assembly by-election in April 2017.
It appeared that the I-T department had sent its reports to the state government and also to the Election Commission detailing the ‘catch’ during its raids that allegedly revealed large-scale corruption by the health minister, as well as bribing of the RK Nagar electorate.
The I-T department had said unaccounted cash amounting to about Rs 20 lakh was seized. The EC consequently cancelled the by-poll. A portion of the I-T report to the government was put out by News18, causing ripples in the political circles and a fresh bout of shrill corruption charges from the Opposition. It included a statement purportedly made by the minister's father Chinnathambi admitting to the raiding sleuths that "an amount of Rs 12,96,000 was received from various persons to get jobs for each of them". It was part of the Rs 20 lakh seized from the minister's Pudukottai house, and was in brown envelopes indicating they were set apart for jobs in the nutritious meals programme.
In yet another piece of evidence flaunted by the TV channel, the I-T communication to the government had reportedly spoken of the seizure of "two incriminating documents containing date-wise notings of fund collection and its application" from an e-mail operated by the minister's PA.
With these media reports going viral, Chinnathambi came out with a statement denying he made any confession to the I-T department. "It is painful for me and my family that such false reports are being published", he said, alleging that the 'twisted' media reports were inspired by political rivals.
He claimed that the I-T raids did not lead to any cash seizures. "Following the raids, my family and I have been fully cooperating with the I-T department", he said, adding that he has been paying his taxes regularly.
