Senior AIADMK leader and former minister KA Sengottaiyan, who had spent months urging unity within the AIADMK, abruptly switched camps and joined the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). Newly appointed as the party’s chief coordinator, he flew to Coimbatore on Friday, where TVK cadres had gathered in full celebratory mode. With Sengottaiyan running late, the crowd found unexpected entertainment: senior AIADMK leader Pollachi V Jayaraman emerged from the airport. Fully aware of who he was, a mischievous TVK woman cadre seized the moment and cheerfully invited him to join TVK on the spot. Jayaraman, caught between shock and diplomacy, made a swift escape, leaving the cadres delighted with their own prank.
R Kirubakaran
Breaking the sacred fund
The University of Madras, long known for guarding its `318-crore corpus fund like a sacred relic, has finally dipped into it, and only after the Madras High Court demanded explanations and even summoned the finance secretary. The money will clear arrear pensions, but the move has set off a quiet panic among faculty. They fear the “untouchable” fund may now become the university’s emergency piggy bank. “Today it’s pensions. Tomorrow it might be office chairs or lab equipment,” a faculty member quipped. The worry is simple: once the vault is opened, routine problems may start metamorphosing as crises, and the corpus could shrink fast.
Binita Jaiswal
Making the vote count
In Vellore’s KN Palayam, 125 voters have hit the civic jackpot, two states, two voter IDs, double the democracy. The issue came to light after AIADMK’s SRK Appu lodged an oral complaint, noting that these names appeared in both Tamil Nadu and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh rolls. Officials say the duplicates will be removed “soon”, though “soon” in government time is anyone’s guess. Meanwhile, several residents have returned their Tamil Nadu forms, admitting they voted in Andhra. All eyes are now on whether the rolls get cleaned or simply rolled over to the next election.
Nimisha Pradeep
Compiled by Dinesh Jefferson E