Hours after rebel AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam sought his explanation, legislator S S Saravanan said on Tuesday the voice in the TV video footage on alleged horse trading involving ruling party MLAs was not his.
“It is me in the video, but the voice is not mine,” Saravanan said.
The Madurai South MLA said the voice was an act of “mimicry, dubbed, fake voice,” adding the footage was related to “some old event, which I don’t remember.”
He said he was consulting legal experts and a criminal case will be filed in this regard.
He also dismissed remarks attributed to him in the video footage with regard to MLAs Thamimum Ansari, Karunas, and Thaniyarasu, as “lie, wrong.”
Denying knowledge about “Shah Nawaz,” of Tamil TV channel Moon TV, with whom he is purportedly shown as conversing in the footage, he said, “I don’t know who he is.”
Flanked by senior leaders Natham R Viswanathan and C Ponnaiyan, the MLA said he has apprised party chief Panneerselvam of the issue.
Earlier in the day, Panneerselvam, leader of AIADMK’s Puratchi Thalaivi Amma faction, said he had sought an explanation from Saravanan.
TV footage had purportedly showed Saravanan making some claims of pay-offs to ruling AIADMK legislators ahead of the February 18 trust vote faced and won by incumbent chief minister K Palaniswami.
Saravanan had earlier claimed he had “escaped” from a resort near here where the MLAs were staying during that time, in “disguise,” before joining the Panneerselvam faction.
Former chief minister Panneerselvam had revolted against AIADMK chief V K Sasikala in February, alleging he was forced to make way for her elevation as CM of the state.
In the ensuing political developments, the AIADMK suffered a split, with some MLAs joining him.
Palaniswami was elected chief minister after Sasikala was held guilty in a disproportionate assets case, and he won the trust vote on February 18 by a margin of 122-11 amid eviction of main opposition DMK following unruly scenes.
Source: HindustanTimes