In what has become a direct clash with Tamil Nadu BJP chief Annamalai, Chief Minister MK Stalin has launched a legal attack against Annamalai as a criminal defamation case has been filed against the BJP chief. The case is connected to the allegations surfaced by him under the name of 'DMK Files', in which he accused MK Stalin's family and senior DMK leaders of corruption and disproportionate investments. 

The case was filed on Wednesday, nearly a month after Annamalai has made the allegations that MK Stalin has received Rs 200 crore to award a contract to a company for the first phase of the Chennai Metro Rail Project. The criminal defamation, which was filed by a public prosecutor, accused Annamalai of harming MK Stalin's reputation. 

According to reports, the plea was filed on behalf of the Chief Minister at the Principal District and Sessions Court in Chennai. By moving the plea, the public prosecutor sought a directive from the court to take action against Annamalai for making defamatory remarks against MK Stalin. The public prosecutor has demanded the court to initiate action against the BJP chief under Section 500 - punishment for criminal defamation of Indian Penal Code and under Section 199(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. 

The plea further states that the video and remarks made by Annamalai in the press meet were circulated on social media platforms with an intention to harm the reputation of the Chief Minister, Government of Tamil Nadu in respect of his conduct in the discharge of his public function. The plea has claimed that the opposition parties can't able to digest the affection from the people to MK Stalin, who has got a very high reputation. 

By citing that the remarks made by BJP were not in good faith, the plea stated that they were made only to defame MK Stalin for the personal political gain of Annamalai. MK Stalin's plea has come weeks after DMK leaders Kanimozhi and Udhayanidhi Stalin had urged Annamalai to apologize for defaming the party. While Kanimozhi sent a legal notice to Annamalai demanding Rs 1 crore as compensation for making false accusations against her, DMK's organising secretary R S Bharathi has sent a legal notice to the BJP leader demanding Rs 500 crore as compensation for defaming the party and its leaders. 

On April 14, Annamalai has held a press conference in Chennai during which he made allegations of corruption against MK Stalin. The former accused the latter of receiving Rs 200 crore from Alstom Transport, through two shell companies for conferring the metro rail contract to a particular MNC. By releasing what he called 'DMK Files', Annamalai had made several accusations against several DMK leaders including ministers Udhayanidhi Stalin, KN Nehru, and EV Velu.