Tiruvarur needs Gaja relief, not bypoll: Jayakumar

Chennai:  Senior AIADMK minister D Jayakumar on Saturday said the people of Tiruvarur only require the Gaja relief and surely not the by-election to the Assembly constituency that has been slated for January 28.

"People in Tiruvarur have lost their houses, their coconut trees, casuarinas, everything. They need relief. It will certainly be bad and very embarrassing to go these people now seeking votes in this by-election", Jayakumar told reporters after distributing cash relief to the victims of a fire mishap at Pulianthope in  Chennai.

The minister’s assertion comes even as the petition from senior CPI MP D Raja against the bypoll is before the apex court and also almost all the political parties have opposed the election as the people in the constituencies have lost their belongings, including the voter ID cards in Gaja. Almost all political leaders,also told the Tiruvarur collector not to hold the bypoll now.