Hours after the Tamil Nadu government's anti-corruption agency has stormed the properties of former Tamil Nadu Minister and ADMK leader MR Vijayabaskar and conducted the searches, the ADMK leadership has issued a statement in which it has strongly condemned the DMK government for initiating retaliatory actions against the opposition parties. 

On Thursday, the sleuths of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) has on Thursday conducted searches at the properties that belong to MR Vijayabaskar, who had served as the Tamil Nadu Minister of Transport during the Edappadi Palaniswami's regime. He also has been serving as the ADMK's Karur district secretary. The searches had begun at 7 am on Thursday and were conducted at 21 places located in Chennai and the leader's home district of Karur. MR Vijayabaskar's residence in Sai Kripa Apartments in RA Puram, Chennai is also brought under the raid operation.

The searches had lasted for several hours and it was reported that the raids are conducted in connection with the allegations of corruption in the transport department while MR Vijayabaskar was the minister and the allegations that he had amassed more wealth beyond his income, during his ministerial tenure. The raid operation, which was first on the ADMK leader since MK Stalin came to power, has drawn major attention and shocked the ADMK leaders. 

The officials had conducted searches in the vehicles that belong to the former ADMK Minister and the DVAC has registered a case against Vijayabaskar under the charges of disproportionate assets. The reports say that the searches had lasted nearly nine hours and the authorities had obtained documents and files and recovered them for further investigations. Following the raid, the ADMK has issued a staunch criticism to the DMK government and urged MK Stalin to concentrate on people-welfare schemes instead of executing retaliations against the opposition parties. 

In a joint statement, Edappadi Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam have said the DMK government, instead of working towards fulfilling the promises made to the Tamil Nadu people, has only been taking retaliatory actions against the opposition. Particularly, the DMK government is deploying the raids to degrade the ADMK among the public. By citing that several DMK Ministers are also facing corruption charges, the ADMK leaders claimed that the DMK government is filing fictitious cases on ADMK with the view of diverting the attention from the DMK ministers who are facing corruption charges. 

Both the leaders have further noted that MK Stalin knows the history that the efforts to destroy the ADMK would go as a daydream and he also knows that ADMK is a movement that was potently built by bracing such suppressions. Edappadi Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam further said, "We strongly condemn the DMK government for intimidating former minister MR Vijayabaskar under the name of conducting searches." By asserting that the ADMK will stand with and support MR Vijayabaskar, both the leaders have said they will counter MK Stalin government's anarchy and violations legally and politically with the support of party cadres. 

While the authorities of DVAC were conducting the searches at MR Vijayabaskar's residence in Chennai, several ADMK leaders and former ministers including SP Velumani, Thangamani, CV Shanmugam, and KP Anbalagan had arrived at Vijaybaskar's residence and hundreds of ADMK cadres had also gathered before his residence. The former ministers weren't allowed to enter Vijayabaskar's residence and after the searches were completed, Vijayabaskar had come out of his residence and greeted the leaders and cadres. 

While addressing the reporters earlier on Thursday, MR Vijayabaskar's counsel has said that the former ADMK Minister has kept everything clear and all of his accounts are legalized and documented. ADMK Coordinator Panneerselvam has demanded the DMK refrain from anti-democratic activities. According to the latest reports, the authorities had completed the search at Vijayabaskar's properties in Karur and had recovered the documents in connection to the allegations. It has been reported that Vijayabaskar would be summoned by the DVAC for further investigations.