Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M. Karunanidhi on Friday appealed to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to release Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder S. Ramadoss and urged members of the PMK to display moderation in their speeches.
Recalling that he had opposed orders against the entry of Dr. Ramadoss to Madurai and Cuddalore districts, Mr. Karunanidhi told reporters here that he felt sad over his arrest, as a sequel to inflammatory speeches made at a public meeting which, Mr Karunanidhi said, took place in the light of a campaign by Dr. Ramadoss and his friends that there should be no place for Dravidian parties in the State.
Advising the PMK members to stop criticising other parties, the DMK leader said it would not look proper to keep on filing case after case and arresting PMK youth wing leader Anbumani Ramadoss for a speech made sometime back. “I appeal to the Chief Minister to release Dr. Ramadoss on humanitarian grounds,” he said, adding that all those arrested should also be freed.
Expressing concern over reports of violence, he said that even though he would not say that everything was good on the front of law and order, it was his duty to tell the government not to keep Dr. Ramadoss and Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss in jails.
In a statement, he said the Chief Minister’s announcement on the proposed long-distance bus terminus in Vandalur did not have reference to cost of the project.
Referring to the Supreme Court’s decision to commute the death sentence awarded to Mahendra Nath Das to life sentence, he appealed to the Central and State governments to take steps for releasing A.G. Perarivalan, Murugan and Santhan, convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, as they had spent many years in prison.
He faulted the State government for not executing expeditiously the renovation of the heritage Khalas Mahal building.
