TN assembly polls: DMK MLA in soup over gifting SUVs; AIADMK lodges complaint

Trichy: The IT wing of AIADMK Trichy north district unit on Thursday lodged a complaint with the district election officer and district collector V Saravanan alleging that sitting DMK MLA S Kathiravan of Manachanallur has gifted seven new SUVs to his party functionaries. However, the MLA refuted the allegations.In their complaint, the opposition termed the gifts as an attempt to influence Manachanallur voters and urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to initiate action against the MLA for violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). The incident came to light after the DMK MLA on his official Facebook page posted two posts dated March 16 and 17, claiming that his father A Srinivasan, chairman of Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan group of educational institutions gifted seven new SUVs to seven individuals."All the seven individuals are DMK's union and town panchayat secretaries. Even before announcing the candidate, DMK MLA is gifting high-end cars, and if he was officially named as the party's candidate for Manachanallur, Kathiravan may go to an extent of distributing similar gifts to voters," P Nagarajan, district secretary, AIADMK IT wing (Trichy north) said.AIADMK said that ECI should include the cost of the seven SUVs valued beyond 70 lakh to the expenditure details of DMK MLA if he was announced as the candidate.Refuting the allegations, Kathiravan said, "Neither myself nor my father sponsored new SUVs. A Chennai based pharmaceutical company gifted cars which includes a few people outside the party as well. My father was only invited as a chief guest to hand over keys. Nobody can buy seven new cars immediately. These vehicles were booked even before MCC came into effect," Kathiravan told TOI.The election department has received AIADMK's complaint. "We will ask the MLA to respond to the allegations," N Shiva, returning officer, Manachanallur constituency said.