In a major move towards his anti-corruption goals, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief and Tamil Nadu CM C. Joseph Vijay on Wednesday removed one of his own party members over a viral video allegedly showing corruption.
At the centre of the conflict was Veera (also known as Veerasamy), who had been serving as the party's joint secretary in the Chengalpattu East district and the president of the Mambakkam Panchayat.
Veerasamy was removed from all his party positions after a video of him allegedly accepting a bribe worth Rs 1.30 lakh from a contractor went viral on social media.
He claimed that the video was being released to manipulate him and the Vijay-led TVK government, amid the Opposition's use of the video to tear into Vijay's corruption crackdown rhetoric.
The contractor, identified in local media reports as Naveen, had completed the construction of a cement road in the Mambakkam Panchayat, which falls under the TVK-led Thiruporur Assembly constituency.
However, the bill for the project, which cost him around Rs 10 lakh, was not released—it had been pending for a long time—and was the only hurdle left before Naveen could receive the money for the road construction.
Veerasamy allegedly first demanded Rs 1 lakh to clear the long-pending bill when Naveen met him at his office. After negotiations, this demand came down to Rs 75,000, an NDTV report said.
However, when the contractor paid Rs 50,000 via GPay and had arranged for the rest to be paid in person, Veerasamy allegedly changed his mind—his demand shot up to Rs 2 lakh before again coming down to Rs 1.30 lakh.
After the alleged agreement, Veerasamy is said to have phoned a panchayat clerk to have the bill cleared immediately, after which he was reportedly paid another Rs 50,000 via GPay and Rs 30,000 as cash.
It is this last cash transfer that is allegedly seen in the viral video, which led to Chengalpattu district secretary T.T.V. Dinakaran to show Veerasamy the door.
This is seen as a major step for Vijay's anti-corruption rhetoric, which has been a key part of his narrative on the TVK being a force of change after DMK rule in the state.
In fact, at his recent Karur rally, he reiterated his stern stand against corruption, saying that in his state, not a single person involved in any form of corruption would be allowed to continue.
“When someone asks you for a bribe, tell them directly that you won’t give it. I will be with you. Even after that if someone forces you, tell them, ‘our son, our brother, our Vijay is the one ruling this state'," the CM had said at the rally.
