KARUR: A cold war has reportedly been brewing between Electricity Minister Senthil Balaji of the DMK and Karur MP Jothimani of the Congress, who earlier shared a thick political friendship. For the past few months, Jothimani was not seen in State government events and Senthil Balaji’s programmes in the district.
Both of them seem to be avoiding each other owing to unknown reasons, party sources said. They were good friends since the 2019 Parliamentary elections in which Senthil Balaji campaigned for Jothimani across Karur constituency. With his help, Jothimani was able to defeat AIADMK’s senior leader and local heavyweight M Thambidurai, who was Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker at that time. In the 2021 Assembly elections, Jothimani campaigned for Senthil Balaji in Karur.
However, the friendship seems to have sunk in the recent times, and this came to the fore when Jothimani staged protest inside the Collectorate on Thursday. She sat in dharna demanding the district administration to conduct the camp to provide Union government-funded Assistance to Disabled Persons for Purchase / Fitting of Aids and Appliances to persons with disabilities.
Though her protest continued till Friday afternoon, the minister did not make any attempt to pacify her. It may be noted that Senthil Balaji, who came to a nearby venue to attend an event, did not meet Jothimani or inquire about her protest. The MP spoke to senior DMK minister K N Nehru about her demand instead of Senthil Balaji, who was based at Karur at the time of her protest.
When asked why not take up the matter with Senthil Balaji, Jothimani told TNIE, “When I asked a month ago, Senthil Balaji told me that he didn’t know why the Collector was refusing to conduct the camp. He did not speak to me since the protest. Nehru spoke to me in this regard.” Even after ending the protest, Jothimani took to social media thanking the people who supported her. Her post mentioned Nehru and Congress leaders, but not Senthil Balaji.
MP withdraws dharna
Karur: Karur MP Jothimani, who condemned Collector T Prabhushankar for allegedly hindering holding of the Union government-funded ADIP (Assistance to Disabled Persons for Purchase / Fitting of Aids and Appliances), withdrew her protest following assurances by the DRO of conducting it in the coming days. ADIP scheme is initiated by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to provide aid to PwD (Persons with Disabilities). Through the special camp, prosthetic limbs, wheelchairs, hearing aid, walking sticks, elbow crutches, braille shorthand machine, etc., are provided through the Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India