Published Jun 26, 2026 | 12:55 PM ⚊ Updated Jun 26, 2026 | 12:55 PM
Sridhar Vembu (Left) seen with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. (Courtesy: Twitter/svembu)
Synopsis: The Zoho founder has clarified that it was officials at the Directorate of Town and Country Planning who had demanded bribes from him when he approached them for approval for his school. He insisted that there was “nauseating, disgusting levels of corruption in Tamil Nadu under the DMK”.
Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has doubled down on his corruption allegations against the previous DMK government.
A few days ago, Vembu had hailed Chief Minister Vijay for speeding up his school’s approval, which he alleged had been left pending during the DMK regime by the DTCP (Directorate of Town and Country Planning), which demanded “significant money”.
On Thursday, he hit back at the DMK ecosystem for dismissing his allegation as a lie “concocted to help the TVK government”.
Vembu explained in a tweet that “we run two rural schools, both free NIOS (National Institute of Open Schooling) schools under the Kalaivani Kalvi Maiyam umbrella.
“The Theni school was originally started and run by a retired IPS officer, an honest and upright man. He built very nice facilities but had to shut down his CBSE school because the state government demanded too much money to issue the NOC (No Objection Certificate). He told me that as an honest retired officer, he did not have the money to pay and they would not issue the NOC otherwise.
“He urged us to take over his trust so we could run our free NIOS school in the premises. That is how we started our NIOS school in Theni.
“Unlike in Tenkasi, where I live, the Theni school faced occasional harassment from the DMK government because we did not have a state government registration, so we tried getting state government approval again (this time for the state board) and that, of course, would also cost money. So it was in a limbo.
“Meanwhile, in Tenkasi, we wanted to build new school facilities (we were operating in make-shift facilities, the ones that came in frequent photos) and we applied for DTCP approval to construct the new buildings. Everyone who knows DTCP in our state knows what kind of corruption happened there under the DMK.
“We waited patiently for DTCP approval for the new school buildings but the approval never came as long as the DMK was in power. The approval came automatically once the government changed. It is this DTCP approval that I posted about in X. I want to once again appreciate the refreshing change,” Vembu stated.
In an earlier tweet, the Zoho founder had mentioned how even an ex-Finance Minister in the DMK government was said to have complained about corruption running rampant.
“We had nauseating, disgusting levels of corruption in Tamil Nadu under the DMK. This is known to the entire Universe, not some grand secret. It reached such Himalayan heights that their own Finance Minister, someone not corrupt…., was complaining about it (sadly for him, his remarks became public and he was demoted to become the IT Minister). This is not about ideology. Even the Marxists of Kerala, then allied with the DMK, would say how deeply corrupt the DMK was,” he observed.
Vembu re-tweeted what a Vineetha Govindaswamy, who currently runs Abhishri Academy in Tiruppur, had to say.
“Leading a CBSE school for close to 10 years has shown me just how painful it can be to deal with the government machinery. There are days when you come very close to giving up; not because running a school is difficult, but because you’re exhausted from constantly having to give. Even greed should have a ceiling. There has to be a point where they should just live and let live,” had posted.
She had mentioned an incident during the FIDE Chess Olympiad in Chennai in 2022 to point out the kind of harassment she was talking about.
“We were instructed to provide a couple of our school vans for advertisement. Huge posters featuring our (then) Chief Minister and the Chess Olympiad branding were put up on our SCHOOL vehicles. A month after the event, when we requested that they be removed, we were told either to leave them as they were or remove them at our own expense (which was not cheap).
“What disturbed me even more was hearing government officials openly say that corruption has always existed in TN, but under the current government, they no longer have to hide it or fear getting caught. Those words came from their own mouths,” Vineetha wrote.
A DMK supporter quoted Nara Lokesh giving the DMK government credit for running a “clean and professional investment process” for investors to rubbish the allegations.
Another user questioned why the Income Tax Department under Nirmala Sitharaman and Narendra Modi had failed to act if such levels of corruption existed.
A third user, meanwhile, told Sridhar Vembu and Vineetha Govindaswamy that all of those running schools must first practise the probity they wish to see and display their fees in a transparent manner instead of looting poor parents “left and right”.
