After a brief pause, trouble started brewing in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) unit in Madurai, with former Mayor P. Kulandaivelu complaining that unidentified persons are roaming in autorickshaws around his house at odd hours and using abusive language in public.
Urban district secretary of the party G. Thalapathi in a statement issued here on Friday said a couple of days ago, some persons burst crackers in front of Mr. Kulandaivelu’s house, a senior DMK functionary.
Meanwhile, ‘anonymous’ posters were pasted at several places in the city defaming another senior DMK functionary, Pon. Muthuramalingam.
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As the posters did not have the mandatory information such as the name of the printing press or the person who had printed them, Vilakuthoon police have registered a case under the Disfigurement Act.
While the needle of suspicion points at some of the supporters of rebel DMK leader M.K. Alagiri, party functionaries did not mention any names, but maintained that antisocial elements should be put behind bars.
Mr. Thalapathi said by disturbing public peace, these elements would pose a threat to law and order. Hence, the city police should act swiftly, he added.
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After the debacle in the recent Lok Sabha election, the DMK high command formed a panel to look into the reasons for the defeat.
Mr. Alagiri, the Madurai-based son of party president M. Karunanidhi, and his supporters had made a vow to defeat DMK candidates, especially Mr. Pon. Muthuramalingam, who unsuccessfully contested from Theni Lok Sabha constituency.