CHENNAI, APR 23
In the clash of two titans –a tech savvy Finance Minister and former IPS officer-turned-politician –over an audio clip’s authenticity, the BJP’s state unit on Sunday knocked on the doors of Raj Bhavan with a plea for inquiry into Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan ‘s (PTR) purported remarks about the assets of the DMK’s ‘first family’ in an audio clip, which PTR claimed was “fabricated.”
Rajan had dismissed as “fabricated” the audio clip where he is claimed to have made some comments about the alleged assets of Chief Minister M K Stalin’s son and Sports Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin and son-in-law V Sabareesan.
BJP state unit chief K Annamalai said he would seek an “independent forensic audit” of the tape. Following his statement earlier on Sunday that a delegation of BJP leaders would be meeting the state’s Governor, “seeking an independent forensic audit on the audio file”, a few saffron party functionaries met R N Ravi at Raj Bhavan.
“Leaders of @BJP4TamilNadu met the Honourable Governor of TN Thiru RN Ravi avl today requesting an enquiry to be ordered in the audio tape of the State Finance Minister….” Annamalai tweeted.
Since the minister “is resting on an argument that this audio is fabricated, we challenge him to produce an audio clip with similar content but instead in my voice,” Annamalai said.
“We shall submit both audio samples to a court-monitored investigation and let the investigating agency ascertain the genuine nature of both audio clips,” he insisted. The BJP leader said he would submit his voice sample and expected PTR to do the same.
Rajan should understand it is “too big a case to be brushed under the carpet with weak statements posted as defence”, he added. PTR had earlier described the audio clip as “malicious, fabricated,” and asserted anyone could make such clips with the help of technology.
