Nearly two months after Tamil Nadu Vetri Kazhagam President C Joseph Vijay was sworn in as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, startling revelations have emerged of attempts to topple the government with allegations against the DMK.
The MLA has come forward claiming that he was offered money to quit the TVK party, alluding to alleged attempts at political bargaining.
MLA N Elaiyaraja claimed that he was offered it $35 crore and threatened to influence his vote in a legislative decision, after which the police registered a case and arrested three people, news agency ANI reported.
Horse trading allegations
Ilaiyaraaja said in his complaint that he was contacted by a person named Thirunavukkarasu who claimed to be running a polling organization called Indian Political Democratic Strategies (IPDS), saying he was reaching out at the request of members of a major political party.
Read also: Mahua Moitra shares video of white people attack during TMC meeting in Bengal: ‘Police watching the fun’
He further alleged that Thirunavukkarasu later asked him to vote a certain way during a proposed resolution against the Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and offered him up to $ANI reported Rs 35 crore as incentive.
Ilaiyaraaja said he was threatened after rejecting the offer and warned not to reveal the conversation. Three people were arrested after the complaint. They have been identified as Thirunavukkarasu from Arumbakkam, Chennai, along with Naresh from Tiruchirappalli and Thiyagarajan from Medavakkam, Chennai.
DMK connection in horse trading row
A connection with the DMK, the opposition to TVK in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, came to light when the investigation found that V Ashok Kumar, brother of former DMK minister and current MLA of Coimbatore South V Senthil Balaji, met accused Naresh in Chennai.
Read also: NEET UG Result 2026 for re-exam will be released soon, Evaluation is underway: Report
He also stated that Thirunavukkarasu acted on instructions allegedly related to V. Senthil Balaji and V. Ashok Kumar.
TVK criticizes DMK
Reacting to the development, Tamil Nadu Minister P Nirmal Kumar on Wednesday hit out at the DMK, saying that for the past 40 days, the opposition party has been trying to poach its own MLAs. He said former Prime Minister MK Stalin was unable to comprehend the judgment of the people in the recently held Assembly elections which ended in Vijay’s victory.
Read also: ‘My phone goes to Delhi, not Beijing’: US Senator trusts China, highly praises India
“We have been constantly saying for the past 40 days that the DMK, Stalin and his team were trying to poach our MLAs. A few days ago, one of our MLAs was threatened by DMK members. This was supported by Senthil Balaji and his brother Ashok. With their support, they allegedly paraded around $35 crore to one of the MLAs and asked him to vote against TVK when a no-confidence motion was moved against the Speaker. This was their request. When he refused, he was allegedly subjected to severe threats by DMK members. He filed a complaint with all the evidence. Accordingly, the police arrested three people. Kumar was quoted as saying that the three are close aides of Senthil Balaji.
He condemned the alleged horse-trading and said that Stalin did not accept the rule of the people, but joined hands with the AIADMK, and overthrew the government.
