CHENNAI (The Thursday Times) — The AIADMK and the BJP will stage separate protests in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday over allegations against two legislators of Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), adding to pressure on the six-month-old government.
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami said his party would protest at the Thuraiyur bus stand to demand action against M. Ravishankar, the TVK legislator for Thuraiyur and Deputy Speaker of the state Assembly, who is accused of assaulting a resident who approached him with complaints about local civic problems.
In Kallakurichi, the BJP will demonstrate against TVK legislator C. Arul Vignesh, who is accused of sending inappropriate messages to the district’s woman Collector. State BJP president Nainar Nagenthran said on Saturday that the protest would be led by former Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, and accused the government of failing to act on complaints.
Both legislators reject the allegations.
The Thuraiyur row began on November 8, when a resident, Karthick Kumar, approached Ravishankar near a temple to complain about a shortage of drinking water and uncollected garbage in his neighbourhood. A video shot in the dark, which spread widely on social media, shows a man repeatedly hitting another man who says he voted for Vijay. Kumar later said he was the man in the video and that the Deputy Speaker had attacked him.
A second clip then appeared in which Kumar, seated beside Ravishankar, said there had been no assault, only a commotion in a crowd. Ravishankar said the incident had been misrepresented on social media. In a third video, Kumar said he had been threatened into retracting, alleging that a police officer took him to the legislator’s home, where the denial was recorded.
Palaniswami accused Ravishankar of using a police officer to pressure Kumar and criticised Vijay for staying silent. The DMK, the main opposition party, protested in Thuraiyur last Wednesday, demanding a case against the Deputy Speaker and his removal from the post. It says no case has been filed against him.
The Kallakurichi allegations surfaced on November 9, when DMK MP Kanimozhi accused Arul Vignesh of sending obscene messages to the Collector, J. E. Padmaja. Arul Vignesh has denied it, calling the claims “dirty politics”, and state minister CTR Nirmal Kumar has called them false and baseless.
A day later, Villupuram range Deputy Inspector General A. Arularasu said the legislator had made inappropriate comments about the Collector in the past and had been warned by the Chief Minister’s Office, but that the claim of obscene messages was unverified and the Collector had not filed a formal complaint.
The DMK and the AIADMK have since petitioned the Director General of Police and other senior officials, seeking a police case, the legislator’s arrest, and an investigation by the Crime Branch-CID.
The rows come as Vijay, the film star who became chief minister in May, prepares to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Monday, according to state government sources, amid a dispute with Karnataka over the Mekedatu dam.
