Aruna resigns after caught in telephone tangles

NI Wire

Chennai

Thu, 15 May 2008: 

A minister in the government of Tamil Nadu made history, but all for wrong reason, when she caught in phone tapping while trying to abuse her chair in influencing vigilance authority to bail out her relative.

The incident was first of its kind in the political history of Tamil Nadu when a State minister d been forced to resign on charges of misusing her office and power on Wednesday, which eventually led her to submit resignation.

Minister of State for Social Welfare, Poongothai Aladi Aruna was caught in the controversial dialogue over the telephone with the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) Director S K Upadhyay pleading him to save her relative, Jawahar facing a corruption cases.

Jawahar was working as an assistant engineer in the state electricity board when caught in accepting bribe.

Following pressures from the Opposition, the 43-year old minister sent her resignation to the Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, who said he had not yet decided to accept her resignation. Any decision over the matter would be taken after thorough consideration, he said.

The Chief Minister, however, condemned the whole incidence of corruption episode involving her minister and said the action was out of justification and “I feel ashamed over her act.”

“Those who commit mistakes will not be forgiven. I also share the Deputy Leader of Opposition’s sentiment that it is a major offence to support one who is accused of having taken bribe. The Government will keep the House informed of the subsequent action when it is taken,” he said.

The whole incident came into light on Monday, when Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy released an audio compact disc to the media having a recorded telephonic conversation between the Minister and the vigilance officer.

The minister is the daughter of Aladi Aruna, who hit the headlines when he exposed the Bofors scandal by his dissent report. By that time Aladi Aruna was one of the members of the JPC which was probing the Bofors scam.

The latest row is the repetition of the earlier one when the tapes of a controversial dialogue between chief secretary L K Tripathi and the same vigilance officer had come into notice.

The Chief Minister said a probe by the CID wing of the police department would be carried out in this case and added that the CID would also have to inquire how the recent tapping were conducted. Such a telephonic tapping of government officials could be a threat for the secret decisions of the government.

In case of expressing dissatisfaction by the Oppositions, the government could also handover the phone tapping incident involving Poongothai to the Commission headed by the retired Madras High Court Justice P Shanmugam. The retired Justice is already involved in exploring the phone tapping incidents involving Chief Secretary and Upadhyaya on a case relating to AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa.