Even as DMK president M K Stalin showered encomiums on his party functionaries and a few senior advocates for getting the statue of Kalaignar installed in a public place in the city, political observers had a tale to narrate on this count.
In 2020, according to them, AIADMK functionaries in Madurai city put up their leader Jayalalithaa’s ( Amma ) statue in K.K. Nagar, near the Corporation's welcome arch, where there is already a statue for MGR. “Under the pretext of giving a facelift to MGR’s statue, the AIADMK leaders installed Jayalalithaa’s statue also.
Since then, for almost a year, DMK functionaries raised eyebrows and, on some occasion, even criticised the ruling party for neglecting the court directives on the issue, political observers said.
Meantime, the DMK functionaries said that after the demise of former DMK president M. Karunanidhi, Mr. Stalin conveyed his wish to all district secretaries in Tamil Nadu to install the statue of Kalaignar statue in each district. In a bid to get credit, the party functionaries in Madurai set the tone by getting order from the authorities and installed his statue in a public place under the guidance of the advocates’ wing.
After unveiling the statue, Mr. Stalin attacked the AIADMK for creating hassles.
Responding to it, AIADMK leaders Sellur K. Raju and R.B. Udaykumar said it was Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami who signed the order for installation of Kalaignar statue at Simakkal in Madurai city. The AIADMK had been magnanimous, they claimed.
However, the political observers opined that in a bid to silence their arch rivals and settle scores, the AIADMK gave the nod for installation of the DMK leader's statue, especially with elections around. The DMK leaders, criticised now and then about the Jayalalithaa's statue. Now, it had been squared.
DMK city secretary G Thalapathi maintained that they had obtained the orders as per the law. Hence, the party installed it in Madurai Central Constituency within about a week’s time and proudly stood on top of the board by getting the statue in a public place.
He thanked senior leader A.V. Velu, P.T.R. Palanivel Thiagarajan and others for working tirelessly with him.
For the voters, it is another statue in Madurai city, but for political parties it is an “achievement”, the observers quipped.
