Chennai: Escalating the demand for action against the DMK government for the Kallakurichi Hooch Tragedy that claimed 58 lives, the State BJP delegation, led by President K Annamalai called on Governor R N Ravi at the Raj Bhavan and handed over a representation to press for the removal of State Prohibition Minister S Muthusamy.
The AIADMK, which organized protests all over the State, would meet the Governor on Tuesday to demand action against the DMK government. AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami led the protest at Kallakurichi, while in Chennai former Minister D Jayakumar spearheaded the agitation.
Police permission was not granted for the protests at the various district headquarters and in many places party workers stood on top of vehicles and raised slogans. In Chennai’s Valluvar Kottam, the protestors sat on the floor to express their angst.
Speaking at the protest venue, Palaniswami said that when another hooch tragedy struck the State the Chief Minister had said that all efforts had been made to prevent such incidents in future but had done nothing about it.
The Chief Minister should take responsibility for the 58 deaths caused by his inaction and administrative failure. He wanted the case to be probed by the CBI to bring out the truth.
In a post on social media channel X, Annamalai said the Minister’s complacency led to the tragedy caused by illicit liquor and added that the case be transferred to the CBI for enquiry. Among those who accompanied Annamalai was former Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan.
Speaking to the media after meeting the Governor, Soundararajan said the people had no faith in the CB-CID that was now investigating the case and only a CBI probe would bring out the truth behind it. She demanded the removal of Muthuswamy from the State Cabinet.
To prove that the DMK had involvement in the case, she said that the DMK MLA Vasnatham Karthikeyan was with the previous Collector of Kallkurichi when he denied any hooch deaths. While the Collector was transferred out, no action had been taken against the MLA, she alleged.
She also asked as to why the Prohibition Minister and also the Chief Minister, M K Stalin had not visited Kallakurichi and why was the State government shying away from handing over the probe to the CBI.
Meanwhile, the Raj Bhavan came out with a denial of news that the Governor had blamed worship of family deity as the root cause of alcohol-related deaths and wanted the banning of worship of Nattar God and village temples.
The Raj Bhavan had filed a formal complaint with the police and condemned the circulation of the fake news circulated with the malicious intent of tarnishing the reputation of the Governor.
