The unprecedented traffic snarl created by the DMK candidate for Tirunelveli constituency for garlanding the statues of late leaders around Tirunelveli Junction earned the wrath of the public crossing the busy spot on Tuesday morning.
Whenever office-bearers of political parties garland the statues of leaders around Tirunelveli Junction, including those of K. Kamaraj, C. N. Annadurai, B. R. Ambedkar, M. G. Ramachandran and U. Muthuramalinga Thevar on their birth and death anniversaries, vehicular movement in the already cramped area goes haywire.
Unmindful of the misery being caused to the public and patients being rushed to hospitals in ambulances through this point, party leaders park their vehicles right on the highway from Sulochana Mudaliar Bridge across the Tamirabharani until the garlanding is over.
A similar situation occurred when DMK candidate S. Gnanathiraviyam garlanded the statues of the leaders around Tirunelveli Junction as he reached here on Tuesday morning from Chennai after being fielded as the party’s candidate for Tirunelveli constituency.
Accompanied by cadre, who had come in over 20 cars, Mr. Gnanathiraviyam and others garlanded the statues in Tirunelveli Junction and also in Palayamkottai. As the ritual that began at 9.15 a.m. continued even after 10.45 a.m., those who crossed Thiruvalluvar Two-Tier Bridge, Tirunelveli Railway Junction Road, Madurai Road, Raja Building Road, Vannarpet, Thiruvananthapuram Highway, etc., were seriously affected.
The badly affected were the Plus Two students rushing to examination centres.
Interestingly, no cadre or local leaders of their electoral allies accompanied the DMK candidate.
“In the guise of paying respect to the late leaders just for votes, these rituals are being conducted. Election Observers and police, who are here for ensuring incident-free electioneering and smooth conduct of elections, should look into these violations also and censure the violators on the spot. If required, cases under punitive sections should be registered against the violators,” said a faculty member of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, who was caught in the traffic jam.