DHARMAPURI: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Friday accused Chief Minister MK Stalin of playing politics over the Karur tragedy, stating that he (CM) did not bother to comfort the victims of the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy last year, but visited Karur victims overnight only because of the upcoming Assembly elections.This is nothing but a political strategy to find favour by sympathising with sentiments of voters, Palaniswami charged.
The former CM participated in the ‘Makkalai Kaapom Tamilagathai Meetpom’ events in Palacode and Papparapatti.
Referring to the remark made by Stalin in Ramanathapuram earlier in the day that the BJP — which did not send its fact-finding team to study Manipur riots, Morbi bridge accident in Gujarat and Kumbha Mela stampede in UP — had quickly sent an NDA MPs’ delegation to Karur for gaining political mileage, Palaniswami said,
“Why did you rush to Karur, and why did you fail to rush to Kallakurichi, or Vengaivayal (where human waste was mixed with drinking water), or to the houses of those who lost their lives in the airshow in Chennai? How else can we describe this except that you are playing politics?”
“This is because of the upcoming elections. It is to reap the political benefits of sympathising with voters,” Palaniswami said at the Palacode event, adding that “they (DMK) do not care about the people at all”.
On the Katchatheevu issue, Palaniswami said Stalin has no right to speak about it “since it was your father (M Karunanidhi) who surrendered the island”. “Was it not the Congress (centre) and the DMK that were the ruling powers when the islet was ceded to Sri Lanka? It was the AIADMK that put up a legal battle against this. If you want to fight about Katchatheevu, please do that within your alliance,” he added.
Criticising the ruling party, Palaniswami said, “The DMK is a family party, which is rife with power struggles among family members. But the AIADMK is a party of the people where anyone can rise.”
TVK Banner at EPS rally
Dharmapuri: During the two-day campaign of the AIADMK, TVK cadre were seen raising their party flags in the meeting at Harur and putting up banners welcoming Palaniswami. Commenting on this, TVK district secretary (West) M Sivan said, “We were alerted on this, but it was not the party cadre who raised our flag during the AIADMK rally in Harur. Yes, a party functionary had put up banners near Karimangalam welcoming Palaniswami. We have since removed the banners. It was not a representation of our intention or agenda.”