Chennai: Stalin claims graft in gadgets tender, CM refutes allegation

Chennai: DMK president MK Stalin on Sunday alleged Rs 350 crore corruption in the tender for procurement of communication equipment for the police force in Tamil Nadu, a charge dismissed by Chief Minister K Palaniswami as ‘a lie’.

Stalin, the Leader of opposition in the Assembly, alleged “corruption in the Rs 350 crore tender for buying communication equipment including camera, CCTV, and digital mobile radio for the Tamil Nadu police” and demanded a fair probe by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption wing.

It was “anguishing that the spectre of AIADMK regime’s corruption,” has not even spared the police department, the DMK leader alleged in a statement.

In Salem, Palaniswami rejected the allegation as “a lie”.

“When he (Stalin) has not made such allegations? He has been making such claims since I took over as Chief Minister, what have they proved ?...it is a deliberate attempt and a lie,” he told reporters when asked about Stalin’s charge.

The corruption claims of the main opposition were “nothing new and are lies,” and such charges were levelled against the government in respect of a road sector project too, he said.

While the DMK found fault with every scheme of the government, people knew the extent of “irregularities and corruption” during their previous regime, Palaniswami said.

Citing the Veeranam drinking water scheme during the DMK’s rule in the past, he alleged the project was mired in corruption and network pipes were abandoned.

Through the New Veeranam Project, drinking water was brought to Chennai from the Veeranam lake, about 200 km from the state capital, only by late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, he said.