CHENNAI/TIRUPPUR: Various political parties in TN urged the State government to find and punish those responsible for the Coimbatore cylinder explosion. Opposition leader Edappadi K Palaniswami termed it an intelligence failure and claimed that explosions have become common in TN after the DMK came to power. He urged the government to unfetter the police department as was done by the previous AIADMK government so it can conduct a detailed probe into the explosion.
In another statement, AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam blamed the DMK government for the deteriorating law-and-order situation in TN. He said the explosion reminded him of those that ripped through Coimbatore in 1998. OPS urged Chief Minister MK Stalin to address the law-and-order problem and protect TN people from terrorists and anti-social elements.
BJP state president K Annamalai, during a presser on Tuesday, condemned police department for not revealing details about the blast and termed it a planned suicide attack. In a press statement, CPM state secretary K Balakrishnan also demanded that the police should check whether there was any terror link to the explosion.
Meanwhile, former BJP state unit president CP Radhakrishnan said in Tiruppur on Monday that Union government would intervene if the State government did not act swiftly and ensured proper probe.
Responding to the charges, power minister V Senthilbalaji on Tuesday said the dream of the opposition to stoke communal tension in the State would not bear fruit. Police, he said, took appropriate action in the aftermath of the explosion in Coimbatore.
The DGP visited the spot soon after the incident (explosion) following an order from the Chief Minister and arrests were made. He said the police and the government did a good job responding to the explosion without disrupting Deepavali celebrations.