Chennai: DMK president M. K. Stalin rode the metro rail from the airport to his Teynampet home after arriving from Madurai Wednesday night, leaving a large contingent of party cadres and mediapersons waiting disappointed outside the gate-3 of the arrival terminal.
The state police too was taken by surprise as its men in mufti were puzzled that the Opposition leader just disappeared after the landing of the Spicejet aircraft from Madurai.
The DMK chief had gone to condole the death of the former Mayor Maheswari and her husband, murdered by unknown assailants, at Tirunelveli.
He got to Madurai after that and took the evening flight back home. But on landing at the Chennai airport, Stalin did the ‘unthinkable’.
He took the lift to the first floor in the airport and used the walkalator to reach the airport metro rail station, where his secretary and the PSO (personal security officer) were waiting with tickets. Former minister KKSSR Ramachandran, the strongman of Sattur in Virudhunagar district, accompanied Stalin from Madurai right through the metrorail ride in Chennai.
“Our leader wanted to taste the excitement of a metro rail ride”, said a Stalin aide. “Besides, he did not want to inconvenience the public at the airport by using the usual transport, his personal car with a large retinue of party functionaries”, he added.
