Annamalai, the president of BJP in Tamil Nadu, released what he calls the DMK files on the auspicious day of Tamil New Year on April 14th, 2023.
He had already informed publicly that he was going to do this several months back when the DMK questioned his integrity by challenging him to produce the bill for the expensive Rafale watch that he was wearing.
Annamalai, being the follower of Narendra Modi, has learnt really well how to take every political opportunity given by his opponents and convert it to his full advantage.
Narendra Modi did exactly the same with the “chowkidar chor hai” comment and we all saw common public putting chowkidar as a prefix to their names on Twitter in support of PM Modi.
The public stood like a rock with Modi and the opposition was left red faced. Similarly, the DMK would be regretting their political blunder with the watch comment about Annamalai especially by a Minister who is himself does not enjoy a clean image. That one mistake is staring on the face of DMK today.
As promised, sharp at 10.15 am on 14 April 2023, Annamalai did a press conference and put a detailed video about how filthy rich some of the top brass of DMK is and how the wealth of some of them has even grown 10 times in a few years.
The assets add up to around ₹1.34 lakh crores according to him and this is just episode 1. The data diligently collected by Annamalai and his team has made Tamil makkal sit up. A stronge narrative against corruption is being put forth.
This is just the beginning. Annamalai has promised that the episode 2 of this series will be more astonishing. The episode 1 that was released covered most of the members of the first family of the DMK. Obviously, the DMK party will put up a brave face and say they were expecting something mind blowing but Annamalai dampened their expectations by just giving the details of the assets that the people in question hold which is an open secret.
However, if what I hear is true, they are consulting several lawyers already and are nervous that the Enforcement Directorate might give them a call soon. R. S. Bharathi had made a valiant attempt to appear fearless and has dared Annamalai to produce evidence of corruption or face legal proceedings soon. I think Annamalai is waiting for them to exactly do it – file a case against him which will in fact help him take this corruption battle formally in courts to the next level. For now, they have sent a ₹500 crore legal notice for the corruption allegations levelled against them. They had earlier slapped a legal notice on Annamalai for his allegations on BGR Energy which till date has only been gathering dust.
If DMK does not file a case against Annamalai by this month end, it will become evident that they have something to hide.
As expected, most of the media houses in Tamil Nadu were careful not to give much publicity to the DMK files as it will displease their masters. However, but Annamalai seems to be planning to keep this fire burning till the 2024 elections through his DMK files videos and through his people connect during his upcoming yatra across the nook and corner of the state scheduled to start on 4 June 2023.
Annamalai wouldn’t have done this without the blessings of Modi and Shah. I will again not be surprised if we see some of the DMK leaders in Delhi soon lining up to meet Narenda Modi. This will not help them as the plan has already been laid out for Tamilnadu running up to the 2024 elections. The fact that Annamalai has disclosed all his financial transactions openly to public for several years which no one in Indian politics has done before augurs for an inevitable shift in the politics of Tamil NNadu. He has raised the expectations of the Tamil makkal on probity from their political leaders and everyone has to now change course whether they like it or not.
Annamalai very aggressively added in his speech on April 14th that he will put forward the corruption on every single that has been power which clearly includes the AIADMK. This other Dravida party has been insecure about Annamalai’s style of politics and now they would have realized by now that BJP top brass is fully supporting Annamalai and they will also not be spared if they don’t fall in line and support BJP in the 2024 elections which is actually BJP’s election under Modi’s leadership. It is clear that Annamalai’s BJP in Tamil Nadu will not hesitate to severe ties with them and go solo. All in all, I think this is a political masterstroke by Annamalai and I can see that he is becoming stronger and stronger by the day. Hope Tamil Nadu will see cleaner politics in the years to come.
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