Prove charges on M-sand or quit politics, Velumani dares Stalin

In a detailed statement, Velumani dared the Opposition leader to prove his allegations with facts. The statement and the allegations from the DMK are based on politics to demean the public welfare government run by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.

All the tender works issued on behalf of Chennai Corporation have adhered to the Tamil Nadu Transparency Act and the projects are being monitored and scrutinised by the committees of the Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure and Financial Services Limited and the World Bank, which is funding the civic projects, Velumani said.

Velumani also noted that the statement of Stalin was full of frivolous charges and said that the DMK leader was not aware of the cost of M-sand and river sand. M-sand costs more than the river sand and tenders awarded have the option of executing the projects by using M- sand, which is expensive when compared to river sand, the statement said.

Meanwhile, former mayor M Subramanian and Saidapet legislator cautioned the LA Minister not to dream of repeating the by-poll like victory achieved by inducing voters with cash.

He also dared the AIADMK leader to resign and face fresh Assembly polls. Subramanian also demanded the immediate resignation of Velumani and said that the latter does not deserve to seek his leader Stalin’s resignation.

On Friday, Opposition leader Stalin alleged that the minister was minting money through the civic projects in the state by allowing the contractors to use M-sand instead of river sand for civic projects worth severalhundred crores.