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Vaiko arrested again
Mr. Vaiko and nearly 180 others were lodged earlyv on Sunday in the Central prison in Palayamkottai, about 600 km from Chennai in Tirunelveli district, after they attempted to wave black flags at Mr Pranab Mukherjee , reports MR Venkatesh.
Even as the External Affairs Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee slightly softened India’s stance on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue urging Colombo to “seize the opportunity” presented by the LTTE’s offer of a ceasefire to ensure a safe passage for the trapped civilian Tamils in the war-zone, the MDMK leader, Vaiko has been again arrested.
Mr. Vaiko and nearly 180 others were lodged early on Sunday in the Central prison in Palayamkottai, about 600 km from here in Tirunelveli district, after they attempted to wave black flags at Mr. Mukherjee, who had come to the nearby port-town of Tuticorin yesterday to lay the foundation stone for a new 1000 MW thermal power project, being jointly put by Nyeveli Lignite Corporation and the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB).
While Mr. Mukherjee’s remarks were seen as being made with an eye on the ensuing Lok Sabha polls and to keep its key Tamil Nadu ally, the DMK in good humour, Mr. Vaiko strongly criticized the Centre at Tuticorin yesterday for “failing to stop the war in Sri Lanka”. Some of his supporters, who had come with black flags, suddenly burnt a portrait of Mr. Mukherjee.
Police stopped the protestors and arrested all of them including Mr. Vaiko and remanded them to 15 days judicial custody. “The DMK Government has arrested us only to please the Congress to ensure that they do not walk out of the (poll) alliance,” Vaiko told reporters there.
In Chennai, the DMK leader, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, after being discharged from a private hospital where he recently underwent a spinal surgery to cure his “severe back pain”, justifying Vaiko’s arrest, condemned the attempted picketing of the Foreign Minister and burning of Pranabda’s portrait in Tuticorin by MDMK men under Vaiko’s leadership.
With the DMK Youth Wing leader and the Chief Minister’s son, M.K. Stalin’s 57th birthday also falling today, Karunanidhi on way home from the hospital inaugurated the renovated ‘Anbagam’ building, the party’s youth wing headquarters, on the arterial ‘Anna Salai’.
Elsewhere in the State, both Central and State Ministers, in anticipation of the poll dates announcement tomorrow, have been on a foundation stone laying spree for a slew of projects. The latest today was by the Home Minister, Mr P Chidambaram, who laid the foundation stone for a new manufacturing plant of the ‘BHEL’ at Thirumayam which falls under his Sivaganga Parliamentary constituency.
