Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) founder, T.T.V. Dhinakaran, on Monday expressed concern over the growing number of fresh COVID-19 infections in districts other than Chennai and its three neighbouring districts.

Alluding to Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s statement that “Only God knows when the COVID-19 pandemic will end,” Mr Dhinakaran, in a statement, said it would not be fair if the State government, instead of taking action to contain the spread, evaded its responsibility by “putting the blame” on God. The AMMK leader also ridiculed the observation that the number of cases in the districts was lower.

In a series of tweets, Mr. Dhinakaran wanted the State government to order early cancellation of examinations scheduled for final-year college students and award marks to the students on the basis of their performance in previous semesters. When States including Maharashtra had taken a decision to this effect, the delay on the part of the Tamil Nadu government had given room for anxiety among students and their parents. Reminding the government how it had created “confusions” before it had cancelled the class 10 board exams, the AMMK leader said the government, this time, should not try to send out any such signal.