Tamil Nadu Municipal Administration Minister SP Velumani on Saturday asked DMK chief MK Stalin to stop spreading canards by linking him to the arrest of the Andrew Sam Raja Pandian, the owner of news portal SimpliCity. Although Andrew was arrested for publishing two COVID-19 related articles, many journalists had alleged that he was arrested following a story which quoted DMK leader who was critical of Velumani.
Condemning the arrest of Andrew Sam, Stalin and accused the state government of misusing its powers during the crisis and also Velumani for using the police to arrest journalists. He said that the portal had published a news item based on DMK MLA Karthik’s statements against Velumani and for pointing out alleged shortcomings faced by government healthcare professionals and alleged corruption by some employees of a public distribution system (PDS) outlet.
— SP Velumani (@SPVelumanicbe) April 25, 2020
Reacting to this, Velumani, in a press release, said, “When the entire world has been making efforts to combat COVID-19 and Tamil Nadu becoming a model for other states in fighting the disease, Stalin was issuing unnecessary statements against the state government out of jealousy.”
கோவையில் #Corona தடுப்பு நடவடிக்கைகள் சரிவர நடைபெறவில்லை என திமுக MLA கார்த்திக் சுட்டிக்காட்டியதை வெளியிட்ட 'சிம்ப்ளிசிட்டி' இணைய இதழின் பதிப்பாளர் ஆண்ட்ரூ சாம் ராஜபாண்டியனை கைது செய்திருப்பது கண்டனத்திற்குரியது.
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) April 24, 2020
அவரை விடுவித்து, ஊடகத்தினர் சுதந்திரமாகச் செயல்பட அனுமதித்திடுக. pic.twitter.com/rzwxyFxMRO
Stating that he was not bothered about Stalin's allegations, the Minister said the people and the media were aware of the efforts taken by him and the government to prevent the spread of the disease in Chennai, Coimbatore and Nilgiris.
"I condemn the way Stalin was linking me to the arrest, even when I do not know about such a news portal," he said, adding, “Unable to bear the success of the government in fighting the disease, Stalin, forgetting political decency, was issuing half-baked statements and supporting some elements who wanted to create unrest among the government staff and doctors.”
Andrew Sam was arrested for publishing two articles on its portal. One, on the shortage of food faced by the postgraduates in the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital, second, on the irregularities in the Public Distribution System (PDS).
He was arrested based on a complaint filed by M Sundararajan, an Assistant Commissioner (Personal) with the city corporation, who alleged that the reports could turn the doctors and PDS workers against the government and in turn affect the efforts to fight the pandemic.
Apart from other sections of the Indian Penal Code, Andrew Sam was arrested under the Epidemic Diseases Act, the first time the act was invoked against a journalist since the pandemic affected the state.
(With inputs from PTI)