Indian Overseas Bank, in a public notification, on Friday announced that three prime properties of actor-turned-politician and DMDK chief Vijayakanth will come up for auction on July 26 to recover loans that his Andal Azhagar Educational Trust had defaulted on. The trust, which runs the Andal Azhagar Engineering college, is managed by Vijayakanth and his wife Premalatha. The three properties are worth Rs 100 crore.
Indian Overseas Bank, in its notification, announced that properties owned by Vijayakanth and Premalatha would be auctioned on July 26 to recover loans worth Rs 5.52 crore availed by the trust. “We will resolve the issue with regard to the mortgaged properties before the notification date,” Premalatha, DMDK treasurer and one of the trustees of the Andal Azhagar Trust, told reporters on Friday. Vijayakanth and his wife had availed loans from the Mount Road branch of Indian Overseas Bank by pledging three of their prime properties and signed as sureties.
The properties to be auctioned will include Vijayakanth’s posh residence in Saligramam in Chennai, spread over 3,013 square feet; a business complex in Saligramam spread across 10,271 square feet built-up area and 4,651 square feet land; and immovable properties in Maamandoor, in the name of Andal Azhagar Engineering college, spread across 49 acres land and 4,38,956 square feet built-up area.
The property at the Mamandoor village on the outskirts of Chennai is valued at Rs 92 crore for auction. The other two properties are valued at Rs 4.25 crore and Rs 3.04 crore, respectively, by the bank.
“The loans were taken 20 years before to develop the engineering college. This is the state of engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu. There is a perception among people that engineering graduates do not get placed in good, highly paid jobs. This is the situation most engineering colleges are facing in Tamil Nadu. We will soon do the needful to resolve the loan issue,” Premalatha clarified.
The DMDK in the recent Lok Sabha polls contested as part of the NDA alliance. The party, which was struggling hard in the run-up to the elections to decide on the alliance, joined the AIADMK-led NDA in Tamil Nadu to contest only from four Lok Sabha constituencies.
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In fact, days ahead of finalising the alliance, Premalatha went hammer and tongs against the DMK and also the media, declaring that the DMDK is one of the “strongest” parties and it adds strength to any alliance it is part of. She even ridiculed the reporters at a press conference when questions about the delay in deciding the alliance were raised. However, the DMDK lost in all the four constituencies it contested.
Interestingly, Vijayakanth, the founder-leader of the DMDK, is not very active these days given health issues. In fact, Vijayakanth, like earlier, did not actively campaign for even candidates of his own party during the recently concluded elections.