CHENNAI: Twelve days after the stampede at TVK chief Vijay’s rally in Velusamypuram claimed 41 lives, district-level functionaries across Tamil Nadu say they remain in the dark — receiving neither direction nor communication from the party’s top leadership.
Several functionaries TNIE spoke to described the post-tragedy mood as one of “silence, confusion, and worry”. “We have received no calls, had no meetings, or messages from the leadership except a voice note from Vijay urging us to remain silent over the issue,” said a TVK functionary.
The message, reportedly circulated on Wednesday by a Chennai-based functionary said to be close to Vijay and absconding general secretary N Anand, urged cadres not to react publicly and assured them that efforts were being made to “settle the matter amicably, said a functionary from one of the southern districts.
They said that the confusion post-tragedy reflected the deeper organisational flaws.
“Only district secretaries and a few state-level wing heads have been appointed so far. We submitted lists for union, town, and ward-level posts months ago, but there has been no approval. Without officially designated members, we couldn’t assign responsibilities during the campaign,” said one functionary. Resentment has also grown after Anand’s counsel told the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court that the responsibility for organising the Karur event lay with the district secretary.
“Every decision, including the venue, had Anand’s personal approval. His claim has hurt those who worked day and night for the rally,” said another. Importantly, another functionary said, “Vijay didn’t introduce district secretaries on stage or even allow them to board the campaign bus. That has caused disappointment.”
They also said that at the consultative meeting prior to the commencement of Vijay’s district-wise campaign rallies, the secretaries were told that each meeting must surpass the previous one in turnout, failing which they would lose their posts.
“If we mobilise large crowd and something goes wrong, we face legal trouble. If we fail to gather enough crowd, we lose our posts,” one of the secretaries said.
SIT gets two-day custody of TVK district secy in stampede case
Karur: The Judicial Magistrate Court I in Karur on Thursday granted permission to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to take TVK Karur West district secretary VP Mathiyazhagan into custody for two days in connection with the stampede at Vijay’s rally in Velusamypuram that claimed 41 lives and left over 100 injured.
The order was issued on a petition filed by the SIT formed under the direction of the Madras High Court to probe the incident. The SIT had sought five-day custody of Mathiyazhagan, but the court granted only two days and directed that Mathiyazhagan be produced before it again at 3.30 pm on Saturday.
Speaking to reporters, Mathiyazhagan’s counsel, Vettriselvan, said the defence objected to the custody request as a special police team had already interrogated him after his arrest. “We have filed a petition seeking bail, it will be taken up for hearing on Monday,” he added.
