Chennai: The mysterious explosion that blew up a car, killing its lone occupant, at i on Sunday morning has become a raging political issue with the opposition BJP and AIADMK pointing fingers at the DMK for the deterioration of law and order and the allies of the ruling party accusing the sangh parivar of trying foment trouble in the State.
Besides BJP State President, K Annamalai, who demanded an investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the blast, the party’s MLA representing Coimbatore South constituency, Vanathi Srinivasan, said that the blast reminded everyone of the violence that rocked Coimbatore through a series of bomb explosions and riots in 1998.
With the then growing city become a target of terrorists, Coimbatore lost an opportunity to develop into an industrial hubs in the country like Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune, the local MLA said in a statement and also wanted the NIA to investigate into the case.
Annamalai, who addressed the media in Chennai on Tuesday, alleged that Coimbatore had turned into a den of terrorists and that A Jemisha Mubeen, who was killed in the car blast, was among the five persons investigated by the NIA in June 2019.
Of the five, two were involved in the bomb blast in Sri Lanka, he said and accused the State government of trying to protect somebody by not revealing the entire truth about Sunday’s incident.
He said his party has written to the Union Home Minister Amit Shah drawing his attention to the issue and said that after waiting for two days, they would meet the Government R N Ravi and brief him about the case.
Accusing the police of not keeping a proper tab on suspects after the NIA raids on office-bearers of the Popular Front of India (PFI), he said the incident was a fallout of intelligence failure.
Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and AIADMK interim general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and the leader of his rival faction O Panneerselvam, too, came down heavily on the DMK government.
Palaniswami, who alleged that terror activities normally increase whenever the DMK came to power, wanted the State government to catch the real culprits behind the blast and bring them before the law.
Panneerselvam said that the Law and Order situation had deteriorated to the level of bomb making happening in the State and added that the blast reminded people of the 1998 situation in Coimbatore.
VCK general secretary Thol Thirumavalavan said the sangh parivar wanted to turn the State into a hotbed of violence and that its activities should be closely monitored. Action should be taken against anyone disrupting law and order, he said in a tweet.
State Minister for Electricity Senthil Balaji said communal riots could not be engineered by some people as they had conspired and jackals in sheep’s clothing would not get the political gains that they had aspired for in a State known for its equality.
TNCC president K S Alagiri congratulated the police for its quick action in arresting the culprits who had planned to carry out a cruel operation. A major disaster had been averted since the designs of some youth had failed, he said.
Whoever was behind the plotting of the terror attack should be dealt with an iron hand and their plans nipped in the bud, Alagiri said, adding that the government should ensure that there was no place for such people in the State.
