Late night raids at 'Veda Nilayam', late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's residence by the Income Tax department has started a huge political controversy in Tamil Nadu.
As soon as the raids commenced on Friday night, members of the Sasikala- TTV Dhinakaran faction slammed the I-T department, the union and state government for entering the house that has been the seat of power in Tamil Nadu for many decades.
Sensing a political opportunity, TTV Dhinakaran has questioned PM Modi's much talked about friendship with J Jayalalithaa.
Speaking to reporters in Thoothukudi, TTV Dhinakaran said, "When Amma was in hospital, PM who claims that he was her friend never visited her. But now, he has gone and visited Karunanidhi. We never made this a political issue when the visit happened. But now a shrine of the AIADMK, the residence of former CM has been raided."
During the last week, the I-T department conducted massive raids across the state. More than 180 locations, businesses and houses, belonging to Sasikala and her family members.
Dhinakaran claimed the raids were a part of the BJP's plan to target the family.
"Arun Jaitley and PM are trying to destroy our family using the I-T wing, which is under their control. We are not scared and we will not run away," Dhinakaran said.
He also hit out at the other AIADMK faction for not condemning the raids and thereby working against Jayalalithaa's legacy.
"Neither CM Edappadi Palaniswami nor Deputy CM O Panneerselvam or other ministers condemned this. They were not protesting outside as the I-T men entered. Only our supporters were gathered outside, this shows that OPS and EPS will go to any extent to safeguard their positions. Only a laptop, a few pendrives and party related letters have been recovered by the IT. We don’t know why Jaya’s room was not raided, may be they went in search of huge amount of money, gold and other materials, but what they got was only laptop and pendrives," he said.
The TTV Dhinakaran faction are going all out against the central government accusing them of orchestrating the raids.
Caught on the backfoot, many leaders from the other faction too have condemned the raids.
A few AIADMK foot soldiers on social media however have been running a parallel campaign pointing out that the raids were on Sasikala's family and not on Jayalalithaa. They have urged people to remember that Sasikala had been living in the house and the raids were to expose her.