Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami accused MK Stalin of telling "blatant lies". (File)
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Sunday hit out at MK Stalin for blaming his party AIADMK for the cancellation of elections in Vellore constituency in April and said that it only happened after the seizure of huge amounts of cash from the houses of "those known" to him.
Campaigning in the Vellore Lok Sabha constituency, where elections will be held next month, K Palaniswami also accused MK Stalin of telling a "blatant lie" on the issue.
Both the leaders, crisscrossing the constituency in north Tamil Nadu as part of their campaign since Saturday, traded charges on the issue of alleged use of money for votes.
Election in Vellore was earlier scheduled to be held along with the April 18 Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu but the Election Commission cancelled after huge amount of cash was recovered from the associate of a DMK leader.
The AIADMK has fielded its ally--New Justice Party leader AC Shanmugham --as its candidate while the DMK candidate was Kathir Anand, the son of party leader Durai Murugan.
In his campaign speech on Sunday, K Palaniswami referred to MK Stalin's speech at a public meeting and said that he had lied. "We did not cancel the elections. MK Stalin is making a blatant lie. The cash was seized from the homes of those he knew," he alleged.
He also said there was no dynasty politics in the AIADMK and even a farmer like him could rise to the level of Chief Minister.
"Even the DMK candidate for this Lok Sabha seat is an heir. After M Karunanidhi, only Stalin and his son can hold top posts," he said.
MK Stalin, campaigning in Vaniyampadi, hit back at l Palaniswami for raising dynasty politics issue, pointing to Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam's son P Ravnidranath being elected from Theni Lok Sabha seat.
"We all know how Panneerselvam's son won the Theni district polls. I do not want to discuss about that now, he said.