Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Working President MK Stalin said on Friday that Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and other ministers should resign immediately, for allegedly taking bribes from mining baron Sekar Reddy, The Hindu reported.

Stalin also sought a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into media reports which alleged that the Income Tax Department had seized documents listing payoffs made by Reddy’s firm SRS Mining to ministers. He added that the investigation should focus on Reddy’s alleged diary, which is believed to have details of bribes.

Stalin demanded that Governor Banwarilal Purohit take action against those whose names are allegedly mentioned in the diary.

Tamil Nadu Communist Party of India (Marxist) Secretary G Ramakrishnan also demanded the resignation of ministers mentioned in the diary. “They have lost the moral authority to continue as Ministers and should immediately be removed from their posts,” he said.

The case

Times Now has claimed to have accessed the entries made in Reddy’s diary. A report by the news channel on Thursday said the diary showed that Reddy bribed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami, Panneerselvam, and Sasikala’s nephew TTV Dinakaran. The diary purportedly shows that Reddy paid Panneerselvam Rs 25 crore.

Reddy has denied ever maintaining such a diary. “What should I react to? Why should I react? First, tell me whose diary is this? Because I don’t have a habit of keeping a diary,” he told The News Minute on Thursday.