Muthuvel Karunanidhi, 92-year-old president of the DMK on Monday questioned the propriety and political morality of Sunday’s meeting between Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and J Jayalalthaa, the general secretary of the AIADMK at Veda Nilayam, the latter’s residence at Poes Garden in Chennai. Adding to the woes of the BJP, its ally the Vanniyar dominated PMK too has blasted the Sunday meeting.
Jaitley, who was in Chennai to attend the marriage of the daughter of S Gurumurthy, the RSS ideologue and eminent chartered accountant, drove down to Veda Nialyam at 9pm and was with Jayalalithaa for 40 minutes which the AIADMK head quarters described as a courtesy call. The DMK leader in a statement on Monday termed Jaitley’s description of the meeting as a courtesy call was a “blatant lie”.
Karunanidhi criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the meeting between Jaitley and Jayalalithaa, who has been convicted and sentenced in the disproportionate wealth case by the Special Court in Bangalore. Following the conviction by the Special Court, Jayalalithaa ceased to be the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and she stood disqualified as the member of the legislative Assembly. The AIADMK leader has approached the Karnataka High Court with a plea to quash the Special Court verdict.
“The reported comment by Jaitley that he met Jayalalithaa with the full knowledge of the Prime Minister has given rise to doubts whether Modi is in connivance with her. This is improper and illegal. What the people of the country will think about this meetingIJ Won’t they think that there is something more than what meets the eyeIJ” asked Karunanidhi.
“Narendra Modi has promised to uphold integrity and honesty. But the action of the BJP Government is proving to be totally against it’s promises,” said Karunanidhi. The DMK chief came down heavily on the BJP Government at the Centre for withdrawing the Income Tax cases filed against Jayalalithaa and her companion Sasikala. Referring to the decision of the finance ministry to withdraw the IT cases filed against Jayalalithaa after accepting a fine from her, the DMK leader asked the Union Government whether it would show the same consideration to others charged with non-filing of Income Tax.
S Ramadoss, the PMK founder, demanded an explanation by the BJP’s Central leadership about the meeting. “Why should a Central Minister meet a person convicted in a criminal caseIJ It is highly condemnable and gives rise to suspicion,” Ramadoss told reporters at Salem. Meanwhile, State leadership of the BJP found itself divided on the issue though no one was willing to come out openly against the Jaitley-Jayalalithaa meeting. “This has put us in a dilemma especially in the backdrop of the Srirangam by-election scheduled for February 13. We all are set to field a candidate for the seat which fell vacant following the disqualification of Jayalalithaa,” said a senior State leader.