Thuckalay police have registered a case against Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate for Kanniyakumari Lok Sabha constituency and Union Minister of State for Shipping and Finance Pon. Radhakrishnan for allegedly campaigning at Thuckalay on March 30 with more number of vehicles without obtaining permission.
As more number of two-wheelers and cars reportedly followed his campaign vehicle, Special Tahsildar and head of Static Surveillance Squad Taj Nisha filed a complaint with the Thuckalay police. Based on it, the police on Wednesday registered case against Mr. Radhakrishnan and others who followed him in vehicles.
Meanwhile Mr. Radhakrishnan, who is seeking re-election from the segment, received a hostile reception in the coastal village of Thoothoor near Kaliyakkavilai when he campaigned on Monday evening. A section of the villagers questioned him about his “failure to meet the affected” people immediately after Cyclone Ockhi devastated Kanniyakumari district. They asked Mr. Radhakrishnan to leave the spot silently without seeking votes.
Mr. Radhakrishnan, accompanied by office-bearers of ruling AIADMK, arrived at the village, known for deep sea fishing, for canvassing votes. A group of youth questioned his “absence in the district and failure to meet the Ockhi victims” after the natural disaster left more than 200 fishermen dead and destroyed coconut and rubber plantations on hundreds of acres.
Though his campaign vehicle slowed down even as the youth were volleying questions, Mr. Radhakrishnan neither replied nor seek votes at that spot.
“Since the minister was in Iran on an official visit when Ockhi struck the district, he could not meet the people immediately, we were told. However, on returning to Nagercoil, he met the affected in the inland while he did not visit the coastal areas that suffered a hefty loss. The minister, to console the affected fishermen, should have visited the coastal villages, particularly the hamlets that lost over 200 fishermen. The ruffled feelings of the fishermen were kindled when he came here seeking votes,” said a priest serving in a coastal parish of Kanniyakumari district.
