Slamming media reports claiming that the Niira Radia tapes suggest that Union textiles minister Dayanidhi Maran paid chief minister M. Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal `600 crores for a Cabinet berth, the DMK chief on Friday flatly denied the charge and dared political analyst Cho Ramasamy to prove the allegation.
“When I saw the report in some dailies I thought no one would be stupid enough to believe what it said. I did not deem it worth a denial. But after Mr Cho Ramasamy chose to answer a question relating to the matter in his magazine, I saw a malicious attempt to repeat a lie many times to make it seem like a truth,” Mr Karunanidhi said.
Writing in party mouthpiece Murasoli, Mr Karunanidhi wondered whether his one-time friend believes reports that Mr Maran paid money to his grandmother.
“It is not just Maran. Will Cho be ready to prove that the DMK got money from anyone for ministerial slots?” he asked.
“Are people like Cho and other mediapersons trying to weaken the Dravidian movement by reporting things which are far from truth or distorting the facts?” asked Mr Karunanidhi.
He also dared Mr Ramaswamy (or other media) to prove that such a transaction took place. “If so, let them report in their media in their own name (and not refer to Radia tapes) and we will face them in court,” he said.
However, Mr Karunanidhi remained silent on leaked conversations between DMK party functionaries and Ms Radia.