Madurai (Tamil Nadu), Nov 4 (PTI) Senior TVK leader and state minister R Nirmal Kumar on Wednesday alleged that desperate efforts are underway to “buy” his party MLAs ahead of the upcoming elections, and accused the opposition DMK and the AIADMK of attempting to poach the ruling party legislators.
Asserting that the TVK MLAs will not be bought or compromised, he alleged that the rival parties are leveraging thousands of crores of rupees to fund these alleged horse-trading attempts.
“Because they have thousands and lakhs of crores of money with each of them, they are attempting this,” the minister charged.
He further added, “None of our MLAs will take money and move anywhere.”
He claimed that offers ranging from Rs 60 crore to Rs 70 crore were being made to legislators, with alleged illicit hawala money trails linked to these operations already surfacing in Bengaluru.
“Hawala money is getting caught in Bengaluru. It is not known why they supplied money from Bengaluru. Investigation is going on,” Kumar said.
Dismissing recent political developments, including TTV Dhinakaran’s meeting with the Governor to reportedly push for a no-confidence motion in the Assembly against the TVK government, he alleged that the BJP, DMK and AIADMK are covertly working together.
Expressing absolute confidence in the party’s electoral prospects, the minister stated that TVK is poised to secure a 100 per cent victory in all forthcoming polls, including scheduled by-elections, propelled by overwhelming public support.
“Let them do whatever they want. But 100 per cent of the people have firmly decided that not just for today or now, but for another 20, 30 years, this government only should remain. And they have decided that (C Joseph) Vijay alone should be the Chief Minister. There is no second opinion on that,” the minister stated.
Highlighting ongoing administrative reforms, Nirmal Kumar alleged that government postings were routinely sold during previous regimes, citing instances where Rs 30 lakh to Rs 35 lakh was allegedly paid for jobs in the Forest department. He said that evidence has been gathered, cases registered, and investigation was actively progressing to ensure that appointments are now strictly merit-based.
The minister added that comprehensive streamlining is taking place across multiple government sectors, including the minerals department, Regional Transport Offices (RTOs), and registration offices, resulting in a significant crackdown on bribery and sand smuggling. He also mentioned that while government schemes are being reviewed; initiatives that fail to resonate with the public may be shut down or renamed for better clarity.
Addressing the deeply entrenched issues within state-run liquor retailer TASMAC, he acknowledged the long-standing problem of consumers being illegally overcharged by Rs 10 per bottle. He noted that this corrupt system has been in place since 2003, generating massive illicit revenues daily. While efforts to dismantle it are facing severe internal resistance, the government is committed to overhauling the 23-year-old system, he said
On public grievances regarding power cuts, he said that strict circulars have been issued to electricity substations prohibiting unannounced power shutdowns for unnecessary reasons without proper log entries, warning of strict action against violators.
Regarding requests for private power purchases by MSMEs, the power minister clarified that approvals depend entirely on the existing transmission line capabilities. PTI JR SA
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