Chennai, Mar 17, 2025, IANS

Chennai, March 17 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Police detained senior BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan on Monday ahead of her protest against the alleged multi-crore TASMAC scam. Soundararajan, a former Governor of Telangana and Puducherry, was taken into custody from her residence under heavy police deployment. As she was being escorted away, she told the media, “They are arresting me from my residence. I will not go separately; I want everyone to come with me.” The Tamil Nadu BJP had earlier announced statewide protests on March 17, targeting the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) -- the government-run liquor retail monopoly -- over alleged financial irregularities. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently unearthed financial discrepancies in TASMAC amounting to nearly Rs 1,000 crore, a revelation that prompted BJP’s K. Annamalai to compare it to liquor scams in Delhi and Chhattisgarh. He described the scam as “unprecedented” and claimed its scale could be even larger than initially reported. Annamalai stated that the BJP would lay siege to the TASMAC headquarters in Egmore, Chennai, and conduct similar demonstrations outside TASMAC outlets across the state. He accused the ruling DMK government of trying to divert public attention by focusing on unrelated issues like the Indian currency symbol in recent days. Senior BJP leader H. Raja echoed these sentiments, stating that while the ED had so far uncovered a Rs 1,000 crore scam, the actual misappropriation could be as high as Rs 2 lakh crore. He demanded a thorough investigation into the matter. He also criticised the recently presented Tamil Nadu state budget, calling it nothing more than the DMK’s election manifesto for the 2026 Assembly elections. The BJP has long accused the DMK of using TASMAC revenues for political gain. Annamalai cited the 2023 arrest of Senthilbalaji, Tamil Nadu’s Minister for Electricity, Prohibition, and Excise, by the ED. He noted that after a year in custody, Senthil Balaji was reinstated with the same ministerial portfolio, which Annamalai claimed was a testament to the DMK’s dependence on TASMAC funds. With Tamilisai Soundararajan’s detention and the BJP’s aggressive stance on the issue, the political battle over the TASMAC scam is expected to escalate in the coming days.