IT Raids and a demand from trade union: Back-to-back pressure for MK Stalin!

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has come under an unprecedented level of pressure since he came to power as he has been surfaced with the intense raids from the Income Tax (IT) department on a company that's alleged to have connection with DMK and a staunch demand from the trade unions to withdraw his government's contentious bill of extending the working hours for the factory workers from eight hours to twelve hours a day. 

These events have conferred a sharp backlash for his administration as he has been getting attacked from the leaders of the allied parties for the first time over the contentious bill. On Monday - the IT officials have stormed into at least fifty locations related to popular real estate company G Square Realtors Private Limited in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. It has been alleged that the company has a direct relation with MK Stalin's son-in-law Sabareesan. 

The IT officials have also raided the residence of Mohan, who is DMK's MLA of Anna Nagar in Chennai and the search is a part of the raids conducted at the real estate firm. The raids are underway for over ten hours and they have come days after Tamil Nadu BJP chief Annamalai has released a dossier named 'DMK Files' in which he listed out the properties owned by DMK family members, ministers, MPs, and MLAs. During the event, Annamalai went on to say that G Square's revenue have exorbitantly increased due to its links with DMK. 

The searches began at around 7 am on Monday in several places like Chennai, Bangalore, and Coimbatore. When the IT sleuths conducted searches at DMK MLA Mohan's residence, hundreds of DMK functionaries have held a protest against the IT department and slammed the central ruling BJP regime. In the wake of the raids, the company has released a statement in which it has said that DMK has no role in controlling it and that all the allegations are false and baseless. 

It has been reported that the founder of G Square, Bala, is a close friend of Sabareesan and ahead of the 2021 assembly polls, the company and Sabareesan were brought under the IT scanner. On the other hand, Chief Minister MK Stalin is also facing a demand from the trade unions to withdraw Factories Amendment Bill that invited a huge trouble for his government. 

The Bill was passed on April 21 in the Assembly in the midst of sharp opposition from the allied parties and the Bill had proposed an extension of working hours for the factory workers. It has said that the factory workers should work for 12 hours a day for four days to meet the target of 48-hours work week and they can take leave for the next three days. The Bill was slammed by the trade unions and they alleged that it would favour the corporates to further exploit the workers for their commercial outputs. 

Though the government defended the Bill with assurance that it won't do any harm to the workers, it sensed a wave of protest across the state as the opposition said that the Bill would further increase the stress for the middle-class people and it would lead to mass unemployment. In the wake of backlash, the government on Monday held talks with several trade unions. 

During the talks, the trade unions stood in solidarity and spoke in a single voice against the Bill and urged the government to withdraw it immediately. The talks were held after the trade unions announced a protest against the Bill on May 12 and after attending the meeting, CITU state president A Soundarajan said that the government's decision to pass the Bill without consulting with the trade unions was regrettable. "If we do not receive a positive reply from the government, we will go ahead with the protest", he added. As MK Stalin has come under huge pressure from the trade unions, it has been expected that the government would take back the Bill. 

 

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