Horse-trading attempts underway to poach TVK MLAs, alleges Nirmal Kumar
Madurai (Tamil Nadu): Senior TVK leader and State Minister R Nirmal Kumar on Wednesday alleged that desperate efforts were underway to “buy” his party MLAs ahead of the upcoming elections and accused the opposition DMK and AIADMK of attempting to poach ruling party legislators.
Asserting that TVK MLAs would not be bought or compromised, he alleged that rival parties were using 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 against the TVK government in the Assembly, he alleged that the BJP, DMK and AIADMK were covertly working together.
Expressing absolute confidence in the party’s electoral prospects, the minister stated that TVK was poised to secure a 100 per cent victory in all forthcoming polls, including scheduled by-elections, on the strength of 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 in which Rs 30 lakh to Rs 35 lakh was allegedly paid for jobs in the Forest Department. He said evidence had been gathered, cases registered and investigations were progressing to ensure that appointments were now strictly merit-based.
The minister added that comprehensive streamlining was 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 government schemes were being reviewed and that initiatives that failed to resonate with the public could be discontinued or renamed for better clarity.
Addressing the deeply entrenched issues within the 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 had been in place since 2003, generating massive illicit revenues daily. While efforts to dismantle it were facing severe internal resistance, the government was committed to overhauling the 23-year-old system, he said.
On public grievances regarding power cuts, he said strict circulars had been issued to electricity substations prohibiting unannounced power shutdowns for unnecessary reasons without proper log entries. He warned that violators would face strict action.
Regarding requests from MSMEs for private power purchases, the Power Minister clarified that approvals depended entirely on the existing transmission line capabilities.