Members of Youth Congress staged a demonstration in front of the Virudhunagar Collectorate on Tuesday protesting against the presence of ruling AIADMK functionaries at cooperative societies to distribute Pongal gift hampers, announced by the State government.
Led by the district unit president, M.K.M. Meenachi Sundaram, the protesters raised slogans against the officials for allowing ruling party functionaries, who were not related to the cooperative societies, to be present at the ration shops. “We are not objecting to the Chairperson and other elected functionaries of the cooperative societies distributing the government welfare assistance, but only to those who are not part of the system,” he said.
Against the rules, the ruling party men had erected fled boards with the AIADMK’s ‘Two Leaves’ symbol.
“This is cheap politics by the ruling party to garner votes from the poor and the working class making use of the government scheme. Let the AIADMK give such gift hampers from its party funds and get publicity for that,” he said.
The ruling party not only violated the rules of the Cooperative Society, but also violated the Madras High Court order against erecting flex banners, he charged. The protesters handed over a memorandum to the Joint Registrar Cooperative, Dilipkumar on the issue.
“He (Dilipkumar) claimed that a circular has been issued to the secretaries not to entertain outsiders at the ration shops. If such violations continue, we will lay siege to the ration shops,” Mr. Meenachi Sundaram said
