BJP TN chief Annamalai, party leaders detained

BJP Tamil Nadu president K. Annamalai and many other party functionaries were detained in state capital Chennai on Monday, 17 March by the police ahead of the party's protest against the alleged irregularities in state-run liquor retailer TASMAC.

The saffron party had announced a picketing protest of the TASMAC headquarters in the city over the alleged Rs 1,000 crore irregularities, as claimed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently.

Annamalai, clad in a black shirt, was detained near his house along with his supporters by the police. In a social media post, the BJP state chief alleged that senior party leaders, including Tamilisai Soundararajan, have been placed "under house arrest" by the police.

Mahila Morcha chief and Coimbatore South MLA Vanathi Srinivasan, Vinoj P. Selvam and Amar Prasad Reddy were among the senior functionaries detained.

Annamalai said there have been "irregularities of Rs 1000 crore" in the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC), and asserted that his party would continue to protest on the matter.

The ED had earlier said it had found "multiple irregularities" in the operations of TASMAC, including "manipulation" in the tender processes and "unaccounted" cash transactions worth Rs 1,000 crore through distillery companies.

The Central agency had claimed it got 'evidence' suggesting these corrupt practices after it raided the employees, corporate offices of distilleries and plants of TASMAC on 6 March. There were ‘kickbacks’ involved, it had claimed.