Pollachi issue turns into political slugfest between arch-rivals

COIMBATORE: The Pollachi sexual assault case is fast turning into a full-blown political war between the DMK and AIADMK as the arch-rivals escalated their war of words to a legal battle.

DMK president M K Stalin came down hard on the ruling dispensation on Friday for filing a case against his son-in-law V Sabareesan for social media posts linking ruling party leaders in the case. Charging that the case was a diversionary tactic by AIADMK, Stalin said he was also getting ready to approach the court against ruling party leaders for alleging that he was instigating the protests. Sabareesan, for his part, has issued a legal notice to AIADMK leader and deputy assembly speaker Pollachi V Jayaraman.

"Scores of students, women and the public are staging protests. So, the AIADMK wants to divert the attention from the issue, and have booked Sabareesan,'' Stalin said. He added that there are high chances that the issue would reflect in the coming elections. "That's because the ruling party itself is backing the accused,'' he alleged. Stalin said the AIADMK was alleging that the protests were instigated by him. "I have initiated legal action. I would approach the court for spreading such false information,'' he said.

Ever since information about the sexual assault came to light, the DMK has been accusing the ruling party of protecting the accused, while the AIADMK blamed its arch-rival of politicizing the issue for electoral gains. The issue took political overtones after information started spreading on social media that K Thirunavukkarasu, one of the accused, was a friend of Pollachi Jayaraman's son. Jayaraman denied it immediately and said one of the accused was in fact a friend of a DMK leader's son. AIADMK expelled one of its functionaries, 'Bar' Nagaraj, after he turned out to be a friend of the accused. Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has maintained a stoic silence in the issue.

Even as the slugfest between the arch-rivals intensified, several other parties too joined the protest bandwagon demanding stern action against the accused.

While DMK organized mass protests in Pollachi and Kanimozhi came down from Chennai to lead the protest, MDMK, VCK, Congress, left parties, Makkal Needhi Maiam and Naam Thamilar Katchi also organized protests.

But AIADMK and its allies have chosen not to organize protests. AIADMK maintained that it has been doing everything as a ruling party to probe the issue - from arresting the accused, booking them under the Goondas Act and transferring the probe to CB-CID.

While the BJP submitted a petition to government officials seeking a thorough probe, PMK, through statements and tweets, condemned the sexual assault and demanded stern action. But there are enough signs that DMK and its allies would intensify the protests in the coming days.