Tamil Nadu: Ruckus over Kallakurichi was a Conspiracy, Says CM Stalin

Chennai: Kicking up a ruckus over the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy after the State government had taken every essential measure was part of a conspiracy aimed at covering up the pathetic trouncing in the Lok Sabha elections that saw the DMK and allies emerging triumphantly in view of the faith the people reposed on the government, Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Saturday.

Replying to the demands for grants for his departments, Stalin said the opposition that had campaigned extensively against the Dravidian Model government by spreading lies could not succeed in the polls and hence unleashed the tirade against the government in the wake of the hooch tragedy.

Though the government acted swiftly in providing succor to the victim, cracking down on errant officials, ensuring the future of children orphaned by the disaster, ordering a probe by a retired High Court Judge, Gokuldoss, handing over the investigation to the CB-CID and sending Ministers and top officials to the spot, all in a matter of 24 hours, the opposition enacted a drama demanding a CBI probe.

They said that when the DMK, as an opposition, could demand a CBI probe for the death of two persons, why not a CBI investigation in a case relating to the death of more people, without realizing that it was not the number of deaths that determined the gravity of a situation, he said.

When the death of two persons in police custody happened in Sathankulam, the AIADMK government was trying to cover it up unlike the present hooch tragedy in which the government had been transparent in its actions, he said.

He said that he had vowed to eradicate illicit liquor and the crackdown on bootleggers was continuing. Besides, he had warned district collectors, superintendents of police and station in-charges of serious action if another hooch tragedy happened, he said.

Similarly, instructions had been issued to all concerned against narcotics drugs, he said, adding that 46 properties worth Rs 18.05 crore had been confiscated from drug dealers, he said.