The AIADMK on Monday staged State-wide protest, highlighting the State government’s “laxity” in the matter of death of 58 persons in the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy and seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the incident.
Leading the party’s demonstration in Kallakurichi, AIADMK general secretary and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Edappadi K. Palaniswami demanded that Chief Minister M.K. Stalin take responsibility and step down for his “gross failure” in preventing the manufacture and supply of spurious liquor.
The lives of innocent victims could have been saved had the government taken firm action in advance. “Both the government and the law enforcement authorities were aware of the sale of spurious liquor. The hooch was being brewed without any hindrance near the police station in town, and this only exposed the shameful state of this government,” he said.
“After the hooch tragedy in Villupuram and Chengalpattu districts in which 22 persons died last year, I warned the government about the production and sale of spurious liquor in the State and urged the Chief Minister to curb the menace with an iron hand. However, the government failed to do so,” Mr. Palaniswami said, adding that as the CB-CID’s probe would not bring out the truth, the State government should hand over the matter to the CBI and cooperate fully with the agency.
Gobichettipalayam MLA and former Minister K.A. Sengottaiyan questioned why the DMK government failed to take action to prevent the hooch tragedy in Kallakurichi despite knowing that illicit liquor was being sold across the State. Addressing mediapersons on the sidelines of a demonstration organised by the party in Erode, he said the Kallakurichi incident was the second such one in the State in successive years.
Addressing his party members at a demonstration organised in Coimbatore, another former Minister S.P. Velumani said mere action on the police machinery was not sufficient and all those involved in the hooch tragedy should be brought to book. He reminded the DMK that the ruling party had polled 6% lower than what it did in the previous Lok Sabha election and when the Assembly election would be held, the AIADMK was assured of success.
In Dindigul district, one of the AIADMK’s veteran leaders, Natham R. Viswanathan, recalled that when Jayalalithaa was the Chief Minister, she had removed the party functionaries from the organisation when she came to know their involvement in illicit arrack trade. In Madurai, former Ministers Sellur K. Raju and R.B. Udayakumar led the demonstration.
In the central region of the State, cadre of the AIADMK staged demonstrations in Tiruchi and other districts. The demonstration in Tiruchi, held near the District Collectorate, was led by the party’s former MP P. Kumar and former Minister M. Paranjothi.
Similar demonstrations were also held at Perambalur, Pudukottai, Ariyalur, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, and Mayiladuthurai districts. In Chennai, chairman of the party’s presidium Tamilmagan Hussain, former Ministers D. Jayakumar and Gokula Indira, and former MP N. Balaganga took part in a protest near the office of the Collector.
Published - June 25, 2024 01:34 am IST
