Nearly four months after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami won the trust vote in the floor of the Assembly, an expose by Times Now and Moon TV suggests that money was paid to sway votes in favour of the ruling AIADMK.
On February 8, over 100 AIADMK MLAs were bundled into buses and transported to Golden Bay Resorts at Koovathur, near Mahabalipuram. While there have been whispers of what happened at the resort, no MLA has come on record to admit whether a deal was struck between AIADMK (Amma) General Secretary VK Sasikala and the locked-up leaders.
A sting operation carried out by Moon TV’s Shanawaz on Madurai South MLA SS Saravanan has revealed that money may have changed hands to fix the February 18 trust vote.
“They did not commit anything directly…but we all got information. There was information that they are going to give Rs 2 crores for each MLA. When we got into the bus we heard it is going to be 2 crores. So before reaching Koovathoor it became 4 crores. So when we got into the bus it was 2 crores, when we reached airport for governor it was 4, then when we reached Koovathur it was 6 crores. We kept hearing this and the next day they said there is no availability of cash and we have decided to give you in gold. I was very, very happy, anyways we will buy gold with the money they give. If we buy gold directly in the market people may try to cheat us. I immediately called home and informed that they have decided to give gold and all our problems will be solved,” revealed Saravanan on spy-camera.
Saravanan, incidentally, is the same MLA who made a dramatic escape from the Koovathur resort, and switched to the O Panneerselvam camp. Following his escape, Saravanan had told the media that many MLAs were willing to switch to OPS’ faction, but were being held captive.
#WATCH | #MLAsForSale sting tape 1 revealed: SS Saravanan, AIADMK MLA, reveals how Jaya’s legacy was auctioned for crores #MLAsForSale pic.twitter.com/ESbWMC5aev
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) June 12, 2017
#MLAsForSale sting exposes Sasikala camp: Kanakaraj, MLA (EPS camp), says gold & money were promised at the time of trust vote pic.twitter.com/fYMMMSz994
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) June 12, 2017
Kanakaraj had been in the news a few months ago when a video of him complaining that Sasikala treated her MLAs like bonded labourers was leaked.