P Thiaga Rajan said the 26-second clip on Twitter, claiming he was conversing with a Delhi-based journalist about corruption in the state government, was not authentic. (Twitter @ptrmadurai)
While Thiaga Rajan released a categorical denial, calling the clip malicious and fabricated, Palaniswami said his suspicions were aroused by the minister’s decision to issue a denial when he could have moved on without comment
The AIADMK and BJP have demanded a central agency probe into an audio clip purportedly of state finance minister P Thiaga Rajan on corruption in the DMK.
A Shankar, political commentator and editor of digital views and investigative news outlet Savukku, had put out a 26-second clip on Twitter, claiming it was the finance minister in conversation with a Delhi-based journalist, reeling off numbers related to alleged corruption at the top echelons of the state government.
While Thiaga Rajan released a categorical denial, calling the clip malicious and fabricated, speaking to reporters on Sunday, Palaniswami said his suspicions were aroused by the minister’s decision to issue a denial when he could have moved on without comment — given that such tapes find their way in the public domain frequently.
In parallel, a BJP delegation comprising state unit leaders met Governor RN Ravi demanding an inquiry into the audio tape.
In his detailed response, Thiaga Rajan said futility would be the result of attempts to create a divide between him and party chief Stalin, who he identified as the reason for “whatever I am, and whatever I have done in public life”.
The minister, besides pointing to publicly available resources declaring the clip as inauthentic, said “unscrupulous” political players were behind the clip, and there could more attempts of slander, which he would choose to ignore.
“This shall be my only statement regarding these recent developments,” Thiaga Rajan said in his statement.
On Twitter, the minister said: “So, I am forced to react at this juncture because one social media post has now been re-broadcast to lamentable proportions. It has been repeated and amplified by unscrupulous political players, and I am distressed to find that traditional media, the fourth pillar of democracy, are disseminating such fabricated, malicious third-hand information (an article about the comments of someone, about the alleged audio, about an alleged conversation with an unknown person].”
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