Former DMK minister P T R Palanivel Thiaga Rajan has accused minister C T R Nirmalkumar of pressuring trustees of Madurai Meenakshi Amman and Thiruparankundram Murugan temples to resign after the TVK govt assumed office.
In an interview to a TV channel, PTR said his 85-year-old mother, Rukmani, a cancer survivor and chairperson of Meenakshi temple trustee board, was subjected to repeated intimidation through HR&CE officials.
He alleged she was told that her name would be retained on the consecration invitation only if she agreed to step down after the ceremony. The names of all five trustees were subsequently removed after they refused, he said. The trustees were excluded from planning meetings and given no information about the number, categories or recipients of passes, including allocations for donors, PTR said. “It was as though there was a separate chief minister for the region from Madurai to Kanyakumari,” PTR said, accusing Nirmalkumar of sidelining HR&CE minister Ramesh. He said he did not believe the alleged interference had chief minister C Joseph Vijay’s approval, but questioned who among Vijay’s advisers had enabled it.
Madurai: Former DMK minister P T R Palanivel Thiaga Rajan has accused minister C T R Nirmalkumar of pressuring trustees of Madurai Meenakshi Amman and Thiruparankundram Murugan temples to resign after the TVK govt assumed office. PTR, who stayed away from the consecration, also alleged that court rulings defining the powers of trustee boards and joint commissioners were ignored. He sought a govt inquiry into the arrangements and any irregularities.