Kodanad case allegations 'a drama scripted by enemies': Thambidurai

On January 11, a former magazine editor Samuel Mathew had released a 16-minute video clip in Delhi, alleging that Palaniswami had links to a break-in at Kodanad estate bungalow (it was used by late Jayalalithaa as her camp office) in 2017.

Two of the accused persons, VK Sayan, and Valayar Manoj, were reportedly seen making purported remarks linking the chief minister to the April 2017 break-in in the video. On Monday, they were brought from Delhi by police in a private flight and whisked away for further interrogation.

"There is no truth in it. It is a drama scripted by some enemies," Thambidurai told reporters here after garlanding the statue of AIADMK founder late M G Ramachandran on his 102nd birth anniversary.

The Congress-DMK combine would not succeed in its attempt to tarnish the image of the chief minister, he said.

The DMK had urged Governor Banwarilal Purohit to direct Chief Minister K Palaniswami to resign from his post to ensure a free and fair probe into the matter.

The main opposition party had demanded a probe by a Special Investigation Team, comprising officers of the rank of Inspector General of Police and further investigation into the "mysterious death" of alleged key conspirator Kanagaraj.

Palaniswami, refuting the allegations, had said that those who were unable to take on AIADMK politically were resorting to such cheap acts and asserted that a probe would expose their identity.

Claiming that his party was in a position to win all the 40 seats in the coming Lok Sabha elections (39 in Tamil Nadu and one in Puducherry), Thambidurai said the DMK-Congress combine's attempt to stop this victory would not succeed.

On the DMK's public outreach programme, he said M K Stalin was holding grama sabha meetings with an eye on panchayat polls and claimed that the party would not win either Lok Sabha or assembly polls.

Asked why Stalin decided to attend the opposition rally convened by Trinamool Congress in Kolkata on January 19, Thambidurai said it could be because the DMK wanted to be part of the government to be formed after the general elections.

Terming as "ridiculous" the remarks of RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy that the AIADMK should ally with the BJP to help it gain foothold in the state, the AIADMK MP said, "When we are trying to strengthen our party, there is no chance of it carrying BJP on its shoulder."

He, however, said the decision on the alliance would be taken at the time of elections by the party coordinator and his deputy.