Remark by AIADMK's Vellamandi Natarajan on ministers being summoned to Chennai stirs controversy

TIRUCHY: A remark by Tourism Minister Vellamandi N Natarajan sparked controversy in Tiruchy district on Saturday after he informed the media that the Chief Minister has ordered all AIADMK ministers to be present in Chennai from October 5-7.

Natarajan's statement came in the backdrop of the announcement by the AIADMK earlier this week that the Chief Ministerial candidate for the 2021 state assembly elections would be named by the party leadership after discussions on October 7.

Talking to reporters about the CM candidate announcement on Saturday morning, Natarajan said, "The Chief Minister had already informed all the ministers to be present in Chennai on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday." The ambiguity grew after the minister pleaded with the media to avoid further questioning till October 7.

Interestingly, the AIADMK IT wing handle had tweeted saying all MLAs have been asked to be present in Chennai before deleting it immediately. In the deleted tweet, the party's official handle posted that all the MLAs have been summoned to the headquarters on October 6, a day ahead of the CM announcement.

With his comment going viral, Natarajan convened a press meet and clarified that he was not referring to the CM candidate announcement on October 7.

"During the start of the pandemic, the Chief Minister asked all ministers to work from government offices in Chennai to improve the morale of the public. When I made the reference to Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, it was about working from the Chennai office and not related to the CM candidate announcement. I had not mentioned any date till now and no order demanding our presence has been issued till now," said Natarajan.