CHENNAI: The DMK legal wing on Monday demanded legal action against chief minister C Joseph Vijay, alleging that he, along with MDMK leader Vaiko and minister Aadhav Arjuna, had conspired to “purchase MLAs” to protect his minority govt, which is 11 seats short of a simple majority. TVK, meanwhile, moved chief electoral officer Archana Patnaik seeking action against DMK candidate I Paranthaman for allegedly campaigning during the silent period and making “baseless” remarks against Vijay and former cm J Jayalalithaa.TVK sought disqualification of Paranthaman’s candidature, alleging that he had attempted to illegally influence voters in Madurantakam.Addressing reporters at the DMK headquarters, DMK legal wing joint secretary and Madurantakam candidate I Paranthaman said two MDMK MLAs elected on the DMK symbol, T M Rajendran of Kadayanallur and R Senthil Selvan of Sirkazhi, lodged complaints against Vijay on Oct 1, alleging that he wanted them to resign from the Assembly. However, no action had been taken on the complaints so far, he said.“If the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption fails to act on the written complaints and register a case against Vijay, the DMK legal wing will initiate legal action against him,” Paranthaman said.He said state law minister C T R Nirmal Kumar should obtain the necessary permission from Governor R V Arlekar before initiating legal action against the chief minister. He drew a parallel with the legal proceedings faced by J Jayalalithaa in the TANSI land deal case.Paranthaman alleged that Aadhav Arjuna had acted at Vijay’s direction and conspired with Vaiko to engineer “horse-trading” aimed at getting the two MDMK MLAs to resign and join TVK.“An attempt was made in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy between Vijay, Aadhav, Vaiko and his son Durai Vaiko to lure and induce (the MLAs), through illegal gratification and inducements, to resign as DMK MLAs and align with the TVK,” he said, referring to the complaint.Paranthaman alleged that Vaiko had told the MLAs that Vijay would take care of their election expenses and ensure their victory if they resigned.In a counter move, TVK representatives said they had petitioned the CEO against Paranthaman for allegedly attempting to influence voters through illegal means. They sought action against him for violating the model code of conduct and demanded that his candidature be disqualified. “The CEO assured of appropriate action,” he added.
