PMK leader Ramadoss to meet TN CM after workers’ stir over 20% quota

The party workers were coming to Chennai from different districts such as Salem, Dharmapuri, and Krishnagiri to partake in the first day of their protest demanding 20% reservation for vanniyar community.

Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader and MP Anbumani Ramadoss met Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami and his deputy O Paneerselvam in the state secretariat on Tuesday afternoon to discuss PMK’s demands. Earlier in the day, PMK workers pelted stones on a moving train and blocked roads leading to Chennai near Perungalathur when police prevented them from entering the city. Traffic came to a standstill on Grand Southern Trunk, a national highway. The party workers were coming to Chennai from different districts such as Salem, Dharmapuri , Krishnagiri to partake in the first day of their protest demanding 20% reservation for vanniyar community.

Ramadoss who also participated in the protest in Chennai appealed to his party workers to not indulge in unrest but protest peacefully. (AP PHOTO.)

“Around 2,000 people have been detained across 65 places,” said assistant commissioner, M S Bhaskar, adding that there was violation of Covid-19 pandemic norms. The officer said that further course of action will be updated. There is heavy police deployment across Chennai and its borders. PMK workers were seen removing barricades to make way for their vehicles.

Ramadoss who also participated in the protest in Chennai appealed to his party workers to not indulge in unrest but protest peacefully. “I request police to allow party workers into Chennai,” he said. “We had announced that we will protest from December 1 two months ago and reiterated it during our recent general council meeting.” PMK has been protesting for this reservation for four decades, he added. “This isn’t a caste issue but a developmental issue where backward communities like vanniyars should grow for the overall progress of Tamil Nadu,” said Ramadoss.

PMK and their parent outfit, Vanniyar Sangam are holding protests demanding a 20% sub quota reservation for the vanniyar community in the state’s educational institutions and government jobs-- an old demand that the party has revived in recent months ahead of the 2021 assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. PMK and AIADMK are allies in the state.