Rajya Sabha MP Sasikala Pushpa, who was miffed at the abrupt cancellation of the District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee meeting at the Collectorate here on Thursday, sat in protest in front of the office. She also questioned why the Collector was not present at his office.
Officials said the meeting, held to study implementation of various Central schemes, was called off due to health concerns of AIADMK MP Jeyasingh Thiyagaraj Natterjee, who was to chair it.
Ms. Pushpa, who owes allegiance to T.T.V. Dhinakaran of the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, staged a demonstration along with her supporters and party members in front of the Collectorate. She said the cancellation of the meeting was an “insult” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The Lok Sabha MP (Mr. Natterjee) was seen on the streets about half an hour back,” she said. She said she had planned to raise important issues like health problems in the district in the meeting.
Officials, including District Revenue Officer M. Veerappan, DRDA Project Director S. Thanapathy and PA (General) to Collector Thiagarajan, tried to placate the MP.
Later, Ms. Pushpa went inside the office and waited for the Collector to return. However, as he did not return, she left the place. Ms. Pushpa said she had left her other official works and come all the way from Delhi to the Collectorate. However, she was surprised to see that the officials were missing.
The decision to postpone the meeting, which was scheduled to commence at 11 a.m., was taken around 10.45 a.m.
In yet another dramatic development, the Collectorate employees staged a sit-in protest inside the premises demanding an apology from Ms. Pushpa who, they claimed, did not pay due respect to senior officials, especially the DRDA Project Director.
Around 4 p.m., they dispersed saying their protest would continue on Friday, sources said.
