Puducherry former Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy on Monday threatened to file a defamation case against Union Home Minister Amit Shah for alleging that he gave “cut money” to the Gandhi family from the ₹15,000 crore allotted to the Union Territory by the Centre.
“A Home Minister should speak in a responsible manner. I am ready to face an inquiry. Why has he not ordered an inquiry? He should openly explain for what purpose the money was sent and when it was sent,” Mr. Narayansamy told reporters at the Sathyamurthy Bhavan, in Chennai on Monday. He asked when the Union Government was controlling the Income Tax Department, Enforcement Directorate and intelligence agencies what had prevented them from investigating these allegations?
Mr. Narayanasamy, who was here, to greet DMK leader M.K. Stalin on his birthday, accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of shamelessly laying the foundation stone for the Villupuram-Nagapattinam four-lane road even though it was announced seven years ago by the then Congress government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“Actually, the function should have been organised in Tamil Nadu since 98% of the road passes through the State. It was done in Puducherry to cheat the people of the State,” he alleged.
Mr Narayanasamy charged that the Congress government in Puducherry was toppled by the BJP government through means of intimidation and money power. “The BJP murdered democracy by threatening the Speaker to allow the three nominated members to vote. Mr. Amit Shah issued direction to the Speaker,” he alleged.
Asked whether the BJP replaced Kiran Bedi with Tamilisai Soundararajan as the Lieutenant Governor because she refused to cooperate with the Centre for removing the Congress government, Mr. Narayanasamy said he had also heard about this, but was not sure of it. “Anyway, we never wanted her to continue in the position. We were of the firm opinion that the UT will have a good day only when she was removed,” he said.
The former CM also rejected the allegation that the Union Territory had not witnessed any development, saying that even during the COVID-19 pandemic Puducherry had witnessed 10.2% growth.
