M K Stalin terms CM Edappadi K Palaniswami’ ‘late visit’ a drama

CHENNAI: Terming Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami’s visit to some of the cyclone-affected areas a drama, DMK president M K Stalin on Tuesday said such a show would only increase people’s anger against the government. In a statement, Stalin said when eight districts were affected by the cyclone, the chief minister had so far evaded the affected people. Palaniswami decided to tour some of the affected areas only after people raised queries as to whether there was a chief minister in the state, said Stalin. “The chief minister is scared of visiting the affected areas. That is why he took a helicopter to catch an aerial view. He travelled only one km by road and distributed aid to very few people, that too to AIADMK members,” said Stalin.

Stalin said some state ministers, who had toured the affected areas, had to make hasty retreats to escape public anger. “When confronted with inconvenient questions about shoddy relief work, a minister scaled a wall and escaped on a bike. Another minister went to the extent of saying that the cyclone did not cause any damage. Yet another minister was keen on blocking media from covering the calamity,” the DMK chief said. Police arrested a person who tried to hand over a petition to the chief minister, charged Stalin. Noting that the relief given to coconut farmers was very low, he said the government was being ill-advised by people. PMK founder S Ramadoss said the ministers were in denial mode about the enormity of the damage caused in the delta districts. It caused a lot of uneasiness in the region as the affected people turned restless and angry, he said.

The CPI has also demanded that the government increase the allocation for distributing relief.