Farmers, Oppn parties stage rail roko in TN

CHENNAI: Opposition parties led by the DMK began a 48-hour statewide rail blockade on the Cauvery issue on Monday, blaming the Centre for its ‘anti-Tamil Nadu’ stand

CHENNAI: Opposition parties led by the DMK began a 48-hour statewide rail blockade on the Cauvery issue on Monday, blaming the Centre for its ‘anti-Tamil Nadu’ stand by refusing to constitute the Cauvery Management Board.

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Protesters from different political parties and farmers’ associations began stopping trains but were taken into custody. There was heavy deployment of police force at railway stations across the state though DMK activists thronged platforms.

First among those detained by police for trying to stop local trains at Basin Bridge station included VCK chief Thol Thirumavalanan. It is on this line that major trains enter Chennai from north and central India. At Perambur station, DMK legislative party leader MK Stalin sat on the tracks with party workers. Holding party flags, the protesters declared that they would not allow trains to and from Bengaluru to move on the route.

CPI leader Muthuarasan demanded that the Tamil Nadu government call an all-party meeting on the issue. “The BJP is engaging in double speak,” he said and questioned the Centre’s U-turn, which he said was only with an eye on Karnataka assembly polls.

Rebuffing the allegations, BJP state unit president Tamilisai Soundararajan said, “There is no need for any protests. The central government is fully seized of the matter and Tamil Nadu’s interests would be protected at all costs.”