'Crushed dreams': Annamalai accuses DMK of mega cash-for-jobs racket; cites ED findings of Rs 888-crore fraud

NEW DELHI: Former Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai on Wednesday levelled serious allegations against the DMK government, accusing it of orchestrating a Rs 888-crore cash-for-jobs scam in the Municipal Administration and Water Supply (MAWS) Department.

Citing two news reports, Annamalai alleged that 2,538 posts in the MAWS Department were sold for bribes of ₹35 lakh each.

“ The DMK government under @MKStalin has become synonymous with one scam after another. The ED has now flagged yet another massive corruption scandal - a brazen cash-for-jobs scam involving 2,538 posts in the Municipal Administration and Water Supply (MAWS) Department, with bribes of Rs 35 lakh per post.,” he said.


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He claimed that out of 1.12 lakh applicants in early 2024, thousands of deserving candidates were denied government jobs because they could not afford the bribes.

“The DMK government crushed their dreams under the weight of its insatiable greed,” he added.

Annamalai further stated, “This latest revelation of the ₹888 Crore scam is not an isolated incident but part of a disturbing pattern of systematic corruption that has become the hallmark of Thiru @mkstalin’s governance.”

Calling for accountability, the BJP leader demanded a judicially monitored CBI probe into the alleged scam. He also alleged that chief minister MK Stalin personally handed over appointment orders to selected candidates on August 6, 2025, while celebrating “job creation,” even though these positions were “allegedly sold.”

ED probes link to KN Nehru’s family

Annamalai claimed that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had uncovered a “deep-rooted” and “systemic corruption network” within the MAWS Department during its investigation into a bank fraud case involving minister KN Nehru’s brother, N Ravichandran, and his True Value Homes (TVH) group.

Speaking on the issue, state BJP spokesperson Narayanan Thirupathy accused the DMK government of ignoring clear warnings from the Enforcement Directorate.

“The ED warned the Tamil Nadu police in April that there was a search at Minister KN Nehru's brother's and son's house for a fraud of Rs 30 crores pertaining to a loan diversion of money in IOB. They made it clear that a lot of documents showing Hawala transactions and other things happened during that time, but the government chose not to react to all these things. They did not do anything,” Thirupathy said.

He added that the state police had failed to take action despite the evidence.

“It is the duty of the police to immediately file an FIR against those who have done this. Rs 35 lakhs per job means how many thousand crores?... A CBI inquiry is a must for this... We have lost faith in police...”

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