CAG report puts AIADMK in the dock; Provides ammo to DMK

Out of power, the opposition AIADMK has painted itself into a corner. Continuing to reel under the electoral debacle, former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) and his cabinet colleagues have been put on the defensive following the tabling of the CAG report. Though sent to the state government last March, the report for 2018-19 was not tabled by the AIADMK Government till its term was over. After the DMK assumed office, it was tabled in the Assembly last week. It had ripped apart the commissions and omissions of the EPS government. When in power, the AIADMK had stonewalled investigations into corruption charges and rampant nepotism, dismissing them as motivated. Court proceedings too were sought to be stymied. Now, the CAG report has exposed massive loss to the public exchequer. Now, the AIADMK leadership is on the backfoot. This assumes significance in view of the government planning to hold mayoral polls and elections to other civic bodies, writes M C Rajan, Bureau Chief, ETV Bharat Chennai.

Chennai: Beleaguered as it is, the opposition AIADMK, has suffered a fresh blow with the CAG reports for 2017-18 and 2018-19 exposing administrative inefficiency resulting in massive corruption and loss to the exchequer. Forced to be on the defensive, the AIADMK leadership is at a loss of words. Though the reports had been received when Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) was the Chief Minister, the government had decided to defer their tabling in the Assembly, fearing a backlash in the Assembly elections. However, the new DMK government under MK Stalin lost no time to place them in the public domain, to keep the heat on the AIADMK.

Administrative inefficiency, the reports say, has caused a huge financial loss of Rs 30,000 crore, of which the Power Sector accounted for a whopping Rs 13,000 crore. The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board is already reeling under a debt burden of over Rs 1 lakh crore. Further, civic bodies have been left bleeding, it has been pointed out.

The CAG expose comes at a time when the diarchy of AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam (OPS) and Co-Coordinator EPS, have to confront the challenge posed by a resurgent VK Sasikala, the expelled interim general secretary of the party. With Sasikala making a determined bid to take over the party and continuing telephone conversations with AIADMK functionaries and cadre across the state, the OPS-EPS duo is engaged in firefighting to keep the party flock together.

While deferring the tabling of the reports has helped the AIADMK to stave off adverse criticism and denying the DMK, then in the opposition, a convenient handle ahead of the April Assembly elections, it has come to haunt it now.

Anti-corruption crusaders like Jayaram Venkatesan of the NGO, 'Arappor Iyakkam' feel vindicated with the new development. The NGO had approached the Court only to be stymied by the Vigilance

Directorate which gave a clean chit to the AIADMK Ministers. The DMK too had presented memoranda, listing corruption charges, to the Governor seeking prompt action, but to no avail.

“The CAG report has provided evidence about the corruption during the AIADMK rule. We demand that the minimum that the new government should do is to register an FIR and launch an investigation. The Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) entered into by the previous government with private power producers should be terminated as per the contracts, which provide for the same. Otherwise, losses would continue to accumulate. Unless they are terminated, another whopping loss of Rs 46,000 crore would accrue in the next seven years,” says Jayaram Venkatesan, who has been hounded by the AIADMK regime for his anti-corruption crusade.

The AIADMK's defence has been very feeble. Former Electricity Minister P Thangamani, a staunch loyalist of EPS, argued that the CAG had criticised the working of the power utilities even during the previous 2006-11 DMK government. Critical observations of the government auditor, he said “cannot be termed as proof of irregularity.” According to him, long term PPAs were intended to provide cheaper power.

However, this does not hold water, say analysts who expect that the new government should act on the CAG reports as any slackness in this would make the reports a ritual. “The DMK government should proceed further without any further delay. Leaving them to gather dust would erode public confidence in statutory institutions. The DMK too had pledged in its election manifesto to act against corruption in the previous government and bring the corrupt to justice. With the impending civic polls, it will be beneficial to the DMK,” reasons political analyst Azhi Senthilnathan.

With the DMK government serious about holding elections to the local bodies, the CAG expose would come handy as a campaign tool. The EPS government had conducted the civic polls partially for the village panchayats and District panchayats, leaving out Corporations, Municipalities and Town Panchayats. Eyeing a clean sweep, the DMK would make use of the CAG reports.