Chennai police clashed with BJP supporters this morning during a protest over an alleged liquor scam in Tamil Nadu - which marks the latest point of friction between the state BJP unit and the DMK amid a raging debate over "Hindi imposition".
Videos showed top state BJP leaders, Tamilisai Soundarajan and K Annamalai, being bundled up in police vans to stop them from leading a demonstration to the headquarters of the state liquor agency.
Chennai Police, which reports to MK Stalin's government, said that no permission was granted to the BJP for the protest while the party has claimed that its two leaders were "arrested" ahead of their proposed blockade.
Ms Soundararajan, former governor of Telangana, said she was arrested from her house. Speaking from a police vehicle, she said she did not want to go without her party workers.
The action by DMK government was out of fear of the protest, said Mr Annamalai, who now heads the state BJP.
Read: 'Due To Hindi Row, Delimitation...': Tamil Minister On Liquor Corruption Claims
"You have been using the lower-level officials for your own work...is it because we have declared the protest democratically and announced a date in advance that you are able to engage in such cowardly actions? What will you do if we launch a protest suddenly without announcing a date?" he asked.
Photos shared by the BJP suggest the leaders are being detained at what appears to be a venue for functions.
The protest follows Enforcement Directorate raids on the corporate offices of state distilleries and allegations of a possible fraud of Rs 1,000 crore within the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation or TASMAC, the state-run liquor sales agency.
The ED said the raids led to "incriminating" data about the bar licence tenders and orders favouring some distillers. They alleged that some distillers "systematically inflated" expenses and "fabricated" bogus purchases to siphon Rs 1,000 crore.
Read: "Kingpin Of Scams": BJP Jabs Tamil Nadu Minister Amid Liquor Corruption Claims
Premises of "key associates" of Excise Minister Senthil Balaji were also searched, but he denied the allegations last week and called the ED raids "politically motivated". The ED was unleashed to target rival parties due to the conflict between DMK and BJP over 'Hindi imposition' and delimitation, he alleged.
"The ED has given no details of the FIRs on the basis of which it has acted. There is no corruption in transfer or transportation (of cash). The alleged irregularities are by the bottling firms outside TASMAC. Tamil Nadu government has no role in this," Mr Balaji said while speaking to reporters.
AIADMK boss Edappadi Palaniswami has also hit out at the DMK government and alleged the scam could be as big as Rs 40,000 crore.
