The police on Tuesday thwarted a free trip for a group of over 100 school students to visit the ‘samadhi’ of late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in Chennai.
They prevented the AIADMK functionary M.D. Rajaraja Cholan from going ahead with the trip stating that the situation was not conducive as the Supreme Court had delivered the judgement in the wealth case in which AIADMK general secretary V.K. Sasikala was among those convicted.
The incident caused a flutter at the airport where Mr. Rajaraja Cholan came to take the students in an Air India Express flight to Chennai. The students assembled at the airport three hours before the departure of the flight.
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Rajaraja Cholan, who recently switched over to the AIADMK from the Tamil Maanila Congress, and his team, made the arrangements. The students mostly from standard I to V were from various city schools.
The trip was arranged in advance and 130 tickets were booked on February 6 including 114 for students and the rest for some parents and teachers who had planned to go with them. The return trip from Chennai was planned in a couple of buses the same night.
As the trip was cancelled, refund from the airline was sought leading to anxious moments. Meanwhile, the police arranged vehicles for the students to return to their homes. Mr. Rajarajan Cholan and his team were detained initially and let off later in the evening.
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He said the trip was arranged to inspire and motivate the students to follow the footsteps of MGR and Jayalalithaa. His team had spent nearly Rs. 4.5 lakh for the trip. Majority of students, who were from government and corporation schools, felt extremely dejected.
“I asked the police to at least allow us to go to Chennai if not to the memorial. But, the police said they could not do anything as orders to prevent them came from their superiors, Mr. Rajaraja Cholan claimed.