AAP targets AIADMK, DMK for ‘crony capitalism’

CHENNAI: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan on Monday charged AIADMK and DMK with practising crony capitalism while on a visit to the state to campaign for Aam Aadmi Party candidates.
“Both the AIADMK and DMK governments have been using Tasmac (the state-run liquor retail entity) to benefit companies associated with their partymen. This is a classic case of crony capitalism in TN,” Bhushan said during a media interaction in Chennai.
According to him, commercial interests were at work through a nexus between politicians and businessmen and there was evidence to show that companies like Midas Golden Distilleries Pvt Ltd are owned by individuals close to AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa.
Bhushan said Midas Golden Distilleries, a major supplier to Tasmac, was indirectly owned by Sasikalaa, a close Jayalalithaa associate, J Ilavarasi, Sasikala’s sister-in-law, and Sri Jaya Finance and Investments, in which a large stake belonged to Ilavarasi. “Midas Golden Distilleries, which had a taxable turnover of Rs 360 crore in 2010-11, increased to Rs 1,077 crore in 2012-13 within two years of AIADMK coming to power,” he said.
Midas is currently owned by Hot Wheels Engineering Pvt Ltd (48.37% shareholding), by Sasikalaa (31% shareholding) and J Ilavarasi (31%), he said. Since Tasmac does not have a transparent procedure for issuing orders and indents to liquor manufacturers, successive governments have been making huge money, using cronies to run benami companies which supply the liquor. And that’s the reason why the Madras high court directed Tasmac to frame necessary guidelines for issuing orders and indents in a judgment on March 13, 2014. Bhushan said circumstantial evidence was more than enough to arrive at this conclusion.
He narrated a recent incident. “Many companies controlled by Sasikalaa and her associates were formed with Rs one lakh capital. There have been a lot of financial transactions happening between these companies, helping one another acquire shares in other companies. When Sasikalaa was expelled from the AIADMK in December 2011, directors of all these companies were replaced by people close to Jayalalithaa,” he said.
Speaking on commercial interests between Sasikalaa’s family and S Vaikuntarajan of V V Minerals, a firm accused of illegal beach mineral mining, he said, “What is not known to the outside world is that a Tirunelveli businessman S Vaikuntarajan literally controls the beach sand-mining industry in southern TN. Directly or indirectly, he owns large number of the garnet mining licenses issued by the Indian Bureau of Mines. Apparently, the same Vaikuntarajan held major shares in Midas until 2009. I think the nexus is now clear,” said Bhushan.
Asked how many seats the AAP will win in TN, Bhushan said the party will definitely have a good performance. “Based on my tour in Kanyakumari and Tuticorin, I am hopeful that our candidates will definitely win here,” he said.