CHENNAI: Protests over the Bangalore court verdict continued for the third consecutive day in the State with a few cadre taking their own lives on Monday too.
High drama was witnessed when an AIADMK cadre dived to his death in the Puthu Aaru river in Thanjavur. Three activists, who jumped to save him, were washed away by strong currents, but were rescued by villagers. In another incident from Tiruvarur, Bala (64), a retired woman health inspector of municipality, hung herself to death.
In a protest organised in front of the Thanjavur Head Post Office, one T Kannaiyan (32), branch secretary of Jayalalithaa Peravai of Thirunallur, tried to set himself and others ablaze. He poured petrol over himself and a few others who were participating in the protest. However, tragedy was averted when other activists restrained him.
In Karur, over 50 activists of the party took out a procession raising slogans.
In Nerur, a group of cadre staged a road blockade.
In a show of solidarity, over 3,000 cadre of the AIADMK observed hunger strikes in Pudukkotai.
Over 1,500 cadre gathered at the old bus stand in Pudukkottai and observed a hunger strike. The functionaries lent novelty to the protest by organising a mass tonsure drive. Several party functionaries and activists took part in the drive and criticised the verdict.
Peaceful protests continued unabated across Erode district with traders of Nethaji Vegetable Market too joining the stir. Amid these agitations, traders in many districts have decided to down shutters on Tuesday condemning the Bangalore court verdict.
Condemning the verdict, various association leaders said that the entire episode was a political conspiracy. However, they expressed hopes that their leader would prevail in the end. They also charged BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and former chief minister M Karunanidhi with filing motivated complaint against the AIADMK general secretary.
Lawyers vow to Support Jaya
The members of the Madras High Court Advocates Association (MHAA) have pledged their support to former Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa, who was convicted in the assets case. A resolution to this effect was adopted on Monday at its urgent executive committee members meeting, chaired by their president RC Paul Kanakaraj. Extending their support would be the right way of showing their gratitude to Jayalalithaa, who had hiked the Advocates Welfare Fund from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5.25 lakh and earmarked Rs 4 crore as corpus fund for the purpose, Paul Kanakaraj said.