In Madurai, the principal Opposition party of Tamil Nadu, AIADMK, has adopted a resolution against the state’s BJP leader, K Annamalai, due to his disparaging remarks aimed at their general secretary, Edappadi K Palaniswami. The resolution stipulates that the AIADMK will retaliate accordingly if Annamalai persists in making derogatory comments about Edappadi K Palaniswami.
The statement asserted, “Annamalai has been engaging in distasteful commentary against the ADMK general secretary Edapadi Palaniswami, and if he persists in such behavior towards the party’s leaders, suitable action will be taken.” Annamalai had previously criticized Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS), the general secretary of his former ally AIADMK, for alleging substantial drug seizures in North India, particularly implicating Adani Port in Mundra, Gujarat.
When questioned about EPS’s assertions, Annamalai remarked that the former Chief Minister was speaking “without comprehension.” “It is commendable if a drug seizure occurs in a border state. Recognition and commendation should be given to the team for intercepting drugs at the Mudra port. The former Chief Minister ought to grasp this and refrain from making uninformed remarks,” Annamalai stated.
Recently, the Tamil Nadu government has instigated criminal defamation proceedings against AIADMK’s general secretary and former CM Edappadi K Palaniswami, and Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai for their statements linking Chief Minister MK Stalin to recent arrests made by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in a drug trafficking case.
The city’s public prosecutor, G Devarajan, who lodged a complaint on behalf of the CM, stated that while the chief minister had taken significant measures to combat drug abuse in Tamil Nadu, the defamatory statements made by the opposition leader Palaniswami in a recent interview sought to wrongly associate Stalin with drug distribution.
In his complaint, Devarajan contended that Palaniswami, as the Leader of the Opposition in the state, had made defamatory remarks against the CM during a recent press briefing, with the intent to tarnish Stalin’s reputation regarding his public duties.
He further highlighted that while the chief minister had advocated for a ‘Drug-free Tamil Nadu’ and implemented various measures toward that end, the current defamatory statements of the accused falsely implicated him in facilitating drug traffickers.
Devarajan emphasized that indeed, the Chief Minister, as part of his public duties, had called for the eradication of narcotics from the state during a meeting in 2022, leading to the implementation of numerous measures, as evidenced by the Policy Note 2023-2024 of the Department of Home, Prohibition, and Excise, Government of Tamil Nadu.