Madurai’s blessings
EPS is on cloud nine, of course, for a reason. After the Supreme Court order, AIADMK interim general secretary was seen overwhelmed with joy at a wedding reception of former minister RB Udhayakumar’s daughter, in Madurai. While addressing the gathering, he was at his candid best and said he wasn’t able to sleep during the night before the verdict. He didn’t mutter words while praising Madurai for being so magnanimous in wiping out his worries. “Whenever we step into Madurai, there is good news,” he said, adding that the judgment has relieved party members of their months-long worry.
Bypoll-vault
Closing in on a successful election campaign in the Erode bypoll, EVKS Elangovan seems to have stirred up a hornets’ nest in his own camp. The Congress leader contesting on behalf of the ruling DMK front and his son Sanjay Sampath have highlighted achievements of the departed MLA E Thirumahan Everaa, garnering support for the Congress party. On the flip side, DMK party men are trying to highlight the achievements of the party-led government in the poll campaign. Some DMK leaders have openly criticised that Elangovan is ignoring the government’s feats, with a few local functionaries venting their resentment on social media.
Media gag in Tenkasi
A farmers’ grievance redressal meeting in Tenkasi, chaired by Collector Durai Ravichandran, went off the track when a farmer-leader sniped at the former. “When Ravichandran took charge as collector, he said he is a son of a farmer and that he will redress all their grievances. But he failed to fulfil his promise as none of our grievances are addressed.” An agitated collector asked the media persons, who were covering the meeting, to leave the hall. Farmers protested, but the collector was adamant. He said the collectorate was his jurisdiction and that he was the sole authority to decide who should be sitting inside the hall. The police convinced the farmers to calm down and stay back as the embarrassed scribes left the hall in no time.
Credit on track
When the Chennai-Madurai Tejas Express made its first-ever stop at Tambaram on Sunday, it kicked up a row out of the blue. As the long-standing demand was finally accepted by the railways, there seems to be a confusion as to who gets the credit for this achievement. A few days ago, Union Minister L Murugan claimed credit for raising the demand with the railway minister. On Sunday, DMK MP TR Baalu said he had written a letter to the Railway Board’s chairman way back in 2019 and detailed how he followed up on the demand. Baalu issued a statement shortly after participating an event presided over by Murugan to inaugurate the stop at Tambaram.
(Contributions by Gayathri V, S Kumaresan, Thinakaran Rajamani; compiled by Ashutosh Acharya)