Around 1,000 DMK and Congress cadres in Dindigul district and 450 cadres in Theni district observed fast on Wednesday condemning the recent attack on party’s executive president M.K. Stalin in the Assembly.
In Dindigul, the DMK cadre raised slogans against the State government and the “indifferent attitude of the Speaker P. Dhanabal in the Assembly”. They urged Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao to order a fresh trust vote in the Assembly.
The party men from the entire district congregated on Tiruchi-Dindigul highway in the morning, forcing traffic diversion.
In Theni, about 450 DMK party functionaries observed fast on Madurai-Theni Highway at Bangalemedu. Traffic was closed on the up-way of the highway. Sufficient force was deployed to regulate traffic.
Similarly, a large number of DMK and Congress volunteers observed fast in Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga districts.
Local DMK leaders were surprised to get an overwhelming support from all wings of the party. A large number of Congress cadre, students and general public also joined the fast.
In Ramanathapuram, the fast was led by Suba. Tha. Diwakaran, DMK district secretary. Congress MLA (Mudukulathur) S. Pandi, former Ministers Suba. Thangavelan and V. Sathiamoorthy, former MP Bhavani Rajendran and former MLAs Thisaiveeran and Murugavel were those who observed the fast.
The leaders said the DMK MLAs, led by Mr. Stalin, demanded a secret ballot as the AIADMK MLAs, who were held ‘hostage’ in the Koovathur beach resort for nearly 10 days by the Sasikala faction of the AIADMK would not vote according to their conscience.
In the absence of secret voting, the MLAs urged the Chair to to defer the voting, but the Speaker acted in a biased manner and declared that Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami had won the confidence vote. Before the voting, the DMK MLAs were assaulted by the police and bundled out from the House, they alleged.
In Sivaganga, the fast was led by P.R. Periyakaruppan, in the presence of Congress Legislature Party leader K.R. Ramasamy. Former Minister M. Thennavan and former Congress MLA M. Rajasekaran were present.
