ED has launched smear campaign against me: Min

TAmil Nadu government minister for municipal brass and irrigate resources (MAWS), K N jawaharlal nehru on mon said that he would legally confront the “smear campaign” launched against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), at the behest of the AIADMK-BJP alliance ahead of the 2026 assembly elections, after it came to light that the federal agency had flagged a second scam against him in three months.ED has alleged that Nehru collected bribes ranging from 7.5-10% while awarding tenders in his department. A total of ₹1,020 crore was collected as proceeds in the case, the ED said in a 252 page document sent to Tamil Nadu’s DGP and chief secretary. ED flagged the first case in October, accusing Nehru of collecting bribes of ₹35 lakh per post in exchange for 2,538 posts in the MAWS department. Officials did not share a copy of the second letter written to the senior bureaucrats.“The previous leak was questioned by the home department and an enquiry is on-going so copies of the latest scam cannot be shared,” said a senior official. However, the official added that their evidence showed that the contracts were pre-determined even before the final bids were opened. Bank statements, WhatsApp chats and details of how the money allegedly exchanged hands through Nehru’s relatives were attached to the document, the official said.The BJP demanded chief minister M K Stalin to direct state officials to register a case against both scams that ED has charged Nehru with. “The DMK regime’s corruption is no longer a matter of allegation; it now stands on a mountain of evidence that Tamil Nadu can no longer ignore. What began with the ₹888 crore Cash-for-Job Scam in the MAWS Department under Minister Thiru KN Nehru has now snowballed into yet another staggering ₹1020 crore scam, with the Enforcement Directorate submitting a 252-page report to the DGP,” said former BJP state president K Annamalai.AIADMK general secretary Edapaddi Palanaswami (EPS) accused the DMK government of indulging in scientific corruption. “The Stalin government is protecting the minister by not investigating the cases,” EPS said. “If the money that the minister looted is recovered, we can fund that for the metro project in Madurai, give free laptops to students and so much more.”Responding to the opposition. Nehru said he would confront ED’s “daily complaint” and “hourly smear campaign” against him unleashed by the BJP-AIADMK alliance in TN.