No link between White Paper, raids on Velumani: TN Minister

Chennai Tamil Nadu Information and Publicity Minister M.P. Saminathan on Wednesday said that there is no link between the White Paper on state’s financial position presented by Finance Minister P.T.R. Palanivel Thiaga Rajan and the raids conducted by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption on AIADMK leader and former minister S.P. Velumani.

Talking to media persons at Tiruppur district in western Tamil Nadu, he said that the “law is taking its own course” and that there was no vendetta politics behind it.

He said that Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had, during the 2021 Assembly election campaign, assured the people that if voted to power, the new government would identify the irregularities in governance and register cases against those involved.

Saminathan said: “If justice is on Velumani’s side and if he has confidence in the rule of law, he can find a solution through that.”

He said that the White Paper on the state’s finances presented by the Finance Minister was to inform the public on the exact financial position of the state.

Noting that DMK patriarch and former Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi had taken steps to improve the financial position of the state after the AIADMK government demitted office in 1996, leaving a huge revenue deficit, Saminathan said that Stalin was also trying to rectify the past mistakes of the AIADMK government and to put the state on track regarding the financial position.

He said that the state is again facing a huge revenue deficit and this was owing to the mismanagement of the resources by the previous AIADMK government which was in power in the state for ten continuous years.