Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday
filed two defamation complaints against AIADMK chief J
Jayalalitha for issuing press statements, which, it alleged,
tarnished the image of Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.
City Public Prosecutor M Shajahan filed the complaints
before the Principal Sessions Court.
"On April 14, a statement issued by Jayalalitha was
published in a Tamil daily in connection with cutting fees
structure of ex-service men who were on assembly poll duty,"
Shajahan said.
"This has completely damaged and undermined the high
reputation of the chief minister. The statement of AIADMK
leader had created disrespect in the minds of general public
and voters," it said.
The complainant contended that "a plain reading of the
article has conveyed the message as though the chief minister
had directed the chief secretary to cut the fees of Rs 300
given to the ex-servicemen who were deployed for the election
duty".
State Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Kumar had stated
that he was responsible for cutting the fees structure to
ex-servicemen and not the Chief Minister as stated in press
statement by the AIADMK leader, the public prosecutor said.
In another complaint, Shajahan said Jayalalitha had
made a press statement on April 13 which contained some
statements defaming the chief minister and officials of
Central and state governments.
"The statements by her blatantly contains false and
baseless allegations with ulterior motive to cause damage and
undermine the high reputation of the chief minister. It was
only made to defame him on the eve of assembly polls,"
Shajahan said in the complaints.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, April 21, 2011, 00:13