DMK backing smear campaign, charges Sam

Addressing newspersons, Sam Paul said, “The DMK is circulating my morphed images on social media to malign my name among the voters. I have the right to file a complaint in this regard and I will file one with the City Police Commissioner and the Election Commission.”

Images of the PMK candidate in a pub and with liquor bottles were circulated on social media recently, leading to questions being raised about his party’s long-term campaign for a total prohibition in Tamil Nadu.

Attempting to set things right, Sam Paul said that the images were taken from his Facebook profile and were morphed. “One of my colleagues who worked with me for 12 years cried for three hours seeing at the posts circulated on social media,” he said.

The PMK candidate said that a Facebook user with the name Vijay was the one who circulated the morphed images. “Vijay was appreciated by DMK Central Chennai candidate Dayanidhi Maran in a Facebook post. This shows that Maran is encouraging such a negative campaign against me on social media.”

Sam Paul further said that though the Opposition parties were involved in a smear campaign, he would desist from doing that. “I have not been involved in any negative campaign against my opponents. I will continue my positive campaign with the moto ‘My people, My Chennai”, he added. 

Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar on Monday justified the ‘slapgate’ incident in Salem district, in which a person, who raised questions about the Chennai-Salem expressway project, was slapped by AIADMK senior leader S Semmalai. 

Addressing newspersons, Jayakumar said, “The question was raised with an intention to malign the party and the alliance. When such questions are asked in the public, such incidents tend to happen.”

The incident happened when PMK candidate for Dharmapuri and sitting MP Anbumani Ramadoss was campaigning in Olapatti village near Mecheri. The MP was approached by a man, who asked for the reason for his party’s decision to align with the AIADMK despite campaigning against the expressway project that the ruling party proposed to implement. Agitated over the man’s insistent queries, Semmalai slapped him.

The ‘slapgate’ incident stirred a major controversy and Anbumani was criticised for being silent when Semmalai manhandled the person. There was a claim that the victim belonged to the AIADMK, but Jayakumar said that was not true.

“We don’t know if the victim was an AIADMK cadre. It may be a ploy by the opposition parties to send their cadre to question our leaders and malign our image,” said Jayakumar, refusing to condemn Semmalai for his act.