Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader K Annamalai has released yet another audio clips this evening, allegedly attributing it to State Finance Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan. It was the second audio clip titled ‘DMK Files’ released by the saffron party leader in five days.
The second audio will be a shocking development bound to jitter the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which BJP Tamil Nadu President K. Annamalai shared on his social media. The audio clip has subtitles in English as well as in Tamil.
“Listen to the DMK ecosystem crumbling from within. On his Twitter handle, the 2nd tape of Tamil Nadu State FM” said Annamalai and tagged the Finance Minister. He thanked the minister for “drawing a proper distinction between DMK and BJP!” and posted a 56-second audio.
In PTR’s alleged part 2 audio clip, he says, “I have been a long-time proponent of one man one post from the day I entered politics. It is what I like about the BJP. Who looks after the party? Who looks after the people separate those. right?”
He further abuses his partymen, saying, “Here every (beep) district secretary wants to be an MLA and Minister. Who looks after the party? Inaudible. Ohh. it’s easier to do money management… it is not a system. They are taking the bulk of the spoils…”
“The party which is the Chief Minister’s son and son-in-law, ask them to make the financing. right? So I decide after watching this for 8 months. This is not a sustainable model. The great luxury for me if I put my papers in… In the short term I get out before the shit starts blowing up in their face. I have the like. kind of… what do you say… cleanliness of my conscience that I did not have to like it wasn’t I gave up the fight too early… I don’t have to say it… I’m no longer in the post… it’s not my job… somebody did it.”, he says.
An audio clip alleged to be that of DMK Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan surfaced on social media on April 19 2023. He is believed to have accused MK Stalin’s family members of making more money in one year than they’ve made during their lifetime.
“Both Udhay and Sabari have realised, they have made more money in one year than they [unclear] entire lives and now it’s getting to be a problem, how to handle it, how to not get caught, how to get payments here. [unclear] Its all being made gradually? 10 to 20 crores… assuming we will say 5000/30000 crores. [unclear]. How can you [unclear] 5000/30000 crores without paying any [unclear]”, the audio clip supposedly of PTR says. (Some say the amount mentioned in the audio is 5000 crores while others note it is 30000). PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan gave a lengthy rebuttal denying the audio calling it ‘malicious, fabricated and deepfake’. He said he did not want a probe on the voracity or genuineness of the audio and who doctored it, which would be a time-consuming and worthless effort.
On April 23, a delegation from the BJP called on Governor R N Ravi and requested an independent forensic audit of the audio attributing to the State finance minister, who called it a “malicious slander” that aimed to draw a wedge between him and his party leader MK Stalin.
The ongoing raids at the premises owned by Chief Minister Stalin’s son-in-law Sabareesan, the release of the DMK file levelling corruption charges against DMK leaders, and the systematic and timely release of audio clips give sleepless nights senior DMK leaders fearing what would be the next item.
