AIADMK holds hunger protest condemning DMK govt for not fulfilling poll promises

Madurai (Tamil Nadu), Oct 9 (PTI) The AIADMK members observed a day-long fast at Palanganatham here on Wednesday condemning the ruling DMK for not fulfilling its poll promises.

Former State Minister R B Udayakumar, who presided over the fast agitation, said the anti-people DMK government should be sent packing home and a new government under the leadership of AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami should be installed.

Criticising the ruling dispensation for five deaths that occurred after an air show at Marina Beach in Chennai on October 6, he said the deaths due to intense heat could have been averted had the state government provided drinking water to the public.

"Not a single life would have been lost had the state government ensured drinking water to the people gathered on Marina Beach," Udayakumar said.

Speaking in a similar vein, another former state Minister Sellur Raju claimed a similar event organised in 2003 during the reign of then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa attracted ten lakh footfalls, and not a single life was lost at that time.

"Now the DMK's allies, the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and CPI (M) leaders have condemned the death of five persons at Marina. This is the beginning of a split in the DMK alliance," Raju claimed.

Tamil Nadu, he said would see real awakening only if the AIADMK under Palaniswami came to power again. PTI JSP ROH