Along the newly inaugurated 1.75 km-long Gandhipuram flyover, AIADMK flags are everywhere.
The flags also dot the service roads on both sides leaving activists questioning the move to portray a State Government function as a ruling party event and politicians condemning the move.
N. Karthik, DMK MLA, said it was nothing short of an attempt to misuse a government function venue to show to the public as if an AIADMK event was under way. This had been nothing new to the AIADMK as the party had tried to do the same with MGR birth centenary celebrations across the state.
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Referring to the criticism by his party working president M.K. Stalin on the way the State Government conducted the MGR birth centenary celebrations, Mr. Karthik said the government ought to have strictly followed the guidelines and added that the people are keenly observing the way the ruling party had been behaving.
Consumer activist K. Kathirmathiyon said AIADMK workers erecting flags or sticking bills to welcome the Chief Minister is one thing but to erect flags at a government function to gain political currency is quite another. The government should take steps to follow protocol in such matters as well by issuing guidelines, he suggested.
Civil society activist S.P. Thiyagarajan also questioned the ruling party’s move to erect AIADMK flags to usurp what was otherwise a government function. With the expenditure for the flyover and the function borne by the State Government, it should have been a non-political affair. Allowing party flags at the venue is uncalled for.
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Defending the move, AIADMK MLA Amman K. Arjunan said it was the party that paid for the flags and banner and that the government and ruling party should not be seen as two entities. The central character to the inauguration was the Chief Minsiter Edappadi K. Palaniswami, who was also a party leader. Therefore, it was only natural that the AIADMK flags were at the venue.