Nirmala Sitharaman must resign for misusing copter, says MK Stalin

Chennai: DMK working president M. K. Stalin on Wednesday demanded the resignation of Union defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman accusing her of violating the norm that military aircraft should not be put to civilian use when she made available a defence helicopter to air-lift the ailing brother of deputy chief minister O. Panneerselvam from Madurai to Chennai.

Answering a question at a media interaction here, Stalin recalled that O Panneerselvam had told reporters in Delhi that his visit there was for personally thanking Nirmala Sitharaman for making available a military helicopter to move his ailing brother from Madurai to Chennai. “It is a mystery how a military helicopter was put to the personal use of a civilian. O Panneerselvam should resign for the improper conduct in using the military aircraft and Nirmala Sitharaman too must quit for facilitating it”, Stalin said.

It may be recalled that Nirmala Sitharaman refused to meet O Panneerselvam on Tuesday amid reports that she was unhappy at his media announcement of her aircraft help. The Bhartiya Janata Party, however, insisted that she could not give time to OPS as he had not fixed an appointment with her whereas the AIADMK MP Dr V. Meitreyan had got the appointment to see her at 2.30 pm and O Panneerselvamchose to tag along.

There has not been any comment from the Defence Minister’s office regarding the O Panneerselvam claim of military aircraft help for his ailing brother.