: The State government would examine the alleged inconsistency in the statements of Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and a senior police officer on the jallikattu protest-related violence that rocked Chennai, Madurai and other places across the State on January 23.
On Monday, when the Legislative Assembly met after a brief adjournment, Leader of the Opposition M.K. Stalin alleged that the statement made by the Chief Minister on the floor of the House on January 27 regarding the violence was at variance with what Deputy Commissioner of Police (Mylapore) V. Balakrishnan had said in interviews with some private Tamil television channels.
While Mr. Panneerselvam had said that the police had obtained inputs that anti-national elements had planned to disrupt the Republic Day celebrations, the police officer said they did not have any such inputs, Mr. Stalin pointed out. “The officer was in uniform and was making statements that were different from the Chief Minister’s. Did the officer get permission to speak in a TV debate in his official capacity?” Mr. Stalin questioned. Some other comments made by Mr. Stalin were expunged by Speaker P. Dhanapal.
Mr. Stalin also pointed out that while the Chief Minister stated that the police had asked the protesters to disperse on January 23, the officer had contended that the protesters were asked to disperse on January 21 itself. “Which is true? The government must explain,” he said.
The DMK leader also referred to the promulgation of Section 144 in areas around the Marina beach and urged the State government to withdraw it, as the second longest beach in the continent was visited by thousands of tourists, walkers and children everyday.
Mr. Panneerselvam said that the issue would be looked into.
