New Delhi: Days after an unverified audio clip of Tamil Nadu finance minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan (PTR), that was widely shared on social media by Bharatiya Janata Party state functionaries, the minister has hit back saying that the clip is “fabricated” and “no malicious attempts to divide Chief Minister M. K. Stalin and him will ever succeed”.
On Thursday, ThePrint had reported that an audio clip, purportedly of PTR, had gone viral on social media where he was heard saying: “Both Udhay [Udhayanidhi Stalin, minister and son of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam head and CM Stalin] and Sabre [V. Sabareesan, the CM’s son-in-law] have realised, they have made more money in one year… now it is getting into a problem. How to handle it…”
Responding to the allegations, PTR, Saturday, released a 2-page statement on Twitter saying that the clip was ‘fake’, which is evident due to some irregularities at various points in the audio.
“Whatever I am, and whatever I have done in public life is because of my leader, DMK president and Honourable Chief Minister M.K. Stalin,” PTR has said in the statement.
BJP, led by state president K. Annamalai, had also shared the audio, leveling serious allegations of corruption against the DMK government in the state.
Earlier this month, Annamalai had released a purported expose, called DMK Files, in which he levelled charges of money laundering against Sabareesan and demanded details of the investors in Red Giant Movies, Udhayanidhi’s film production company. On Wednesday, Udhayanidhi, who is also an actor-producer, hit back with a legal notice against the BJP state chief.
Meanwhile, PTR in his statement said: “Having failed at painting me as a villain in the public sphere, there seems to be a change of strategy: to paint me as a lone crusader, a reluctant whistle-blower, a pseudo-martyr.”
“I’m a strong proponent of the right to free speech, which is vital in any democratic country,” PTS’s statement reads.
He added that he has never filed a police complaint, “let alone a defamation suit”, for personal attacks, except for once.
“Several allegations have been made against me on social media in the past two years. From relatively minor accusations, like being high-handed, to being obstructionist, to being incompetent to do my job, to very serious charges like being corrupt indirectly through others, and finally to being personally corrupt (e.g. collecting 1% for every file I sign). As consistency is the hallmark of good character, I have never reacted to any one of these accusations,” the statement said.
However, he added that this was an exception.
PTR also attacked the “traditional media” for not verifying the clip before using it. He said, “The traction gained by re-broadcasting publicly discredited third-hand click-bait may cater well to the financial viability of online platforms, but it corrodes the stature of the traditional media in a democracy.”
“We should not be surprised to see more audio and even video clips in the coming days and months with ever-more malicious content,” he adds in the statement.
(Edited by Anumeha Saxena)
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