Tamil Nadu’s ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Saturday slapped a legal notice on K Annamalai, chief of the state BJP unit, for making “defamatory, false, scandalous, and vile” statements against Chief Minister M K Stalin, particularly about his visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The notice issued by DMK organising secretary, R S Bharathi, says he will be constrained to “initiate appropriate civil and criminal proceedings” against if the former IPS officer does not tender a public apology within 24 hours, desist from making such statements, and pay damages to the tune of Rs 100 crores payable to the CM’s Public Relief fund within two days.
Stalin is currently on an official visit to the UAE to participate in the Dubai Expo 2020 and invite industrialists from the Gulf nation to invest in Tamil Nadu. At protest events organised by BJP on March 24 and 25, Annamalai had attributed personal motives to Stalin’s visit to Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
In the notice, Bharathi said Stalin has left no stone unturned to develop the state, but at the same time keeping in mind social equality. “This being so, you (Annamalai) have repeatedly attempted to tarnish, defame and sully the DMK President /Hon'ble Chief Minister's good name by making completely false, vile and scandalous statements in public,” the notice said.
Bharathi alleged that Annamalai made “grossly false, frivolous, malicious and untrue” statements with the sole intention to “defame, denigrate and cause injury” to Stalin’s fame and his reputation and project as if he is indulging in some crime at the above-mentioned protests.
In his response, Annamalai said: “The DMK’s first family treats a mere commoner like me to be equivalent to a ‘Dubai family-like them’. I have full faith in our Judiciary. Will face all your threats in court. My fight is for TN.”
The notice sent by Bharathi alleged that when the Hon'ble Chief Minister has travelled to Dubai in the discharge of his official functions, surrounded by public officials and is “spending each minute of his trip on official business, only an injudicious person would make these allegations.”
“You (Annamalai) are clearly making these statements to defame our DMK President/Hon'ble Chief Minister's image and cause a dent on his reputation and gain cheap publicity,” the notice said.
The legal notice also alleged that Annamalai does not have the slightest idea of the political, social or economic climate in Tamil Nadu, India and around the world.
“Our client states that you have made these statements as a cheap publicity stunt and nothing more, with a view to gain political mileage at the expense of the reputation and image of the DMK President/ Hon'ble Chief Minister Mr MK Stalin,” the notice said, adding that the statements besides being defamatory are “anti-national, and liable to be dealt with as seditious” since he is “attempting to sabotage foreign investments into India.”
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