Karur stampede rocks TN Assembly, as AIADMK walks out, CM terms commotion as planned

Chennai, Oct 15 (PTI) The September 27 Karur stampede, which claimed 41 lives at actor-politician Vijay's TVK rally, rocked the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Wednesday with the main opposition AIADMK members staging a walkout.

Taking exception, Chief Minister M K Stain said the AIADMK's stance on Karur stampede indicated that the party was desperate to rope in the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam into their combine. "People will give a fitting reply to whichever alliance you form for the Assembly election (next year)," he said.

CM also accused that the commotion in the house was planned by AIADMK.

Giving a detailed explanation on the steps the state government took in rescuing and extending medical assistance to the stampede victims, the Chief Minister said "Vijay (TVK founder) came seven hours late for the meeting. The organisers did not make any arrangements to provide water, food, or other basic amenities for the waiting crowd nor did they heed to the police request to have his (Vijay's) address advanced to enable the people to disperse," the Chief Minister said.

Speaking on the tragic incident Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami said the deaths would not have occurred had the police provided sufficient protection at the venue. "Why was the TVK granted permission at a place where the police had earlier denied?" he asked.

To this, the Chief Minister replied, "You seem to be desperately searching for a new ally. I had already appealed to everyone not to politicise the stampede." Palaniswami made a remark which Speaker M Appavu expunged. Immediately, the AIADMK members stood up and shouted, and they were met with matching voices from the DMK members. In the midst, Palaniswami demanded that the chief minister's remark linking to the alliance be expunged.

The officials had to clarify the issue by briefing the press, as rumours were spread on social media, Stalin said, and added "their explanation was official and not politics." The AIADMK members rushed to the well of the House and staged a sit-in protest when Transport Minister S S Sivasankar questioned AIADMK's silence on the Tuticorin police firing incident and wondered why that party wanted to fault the government machinery in Karur incident. The AIADMK members continued to protest in front of the Chair for nearly eight minutes and ignored the appeals of the Speaker to return to their seats, and finally staged a walkout.

Following this, the chief minister said the AIADMK members came to the Assembly intending to cause a commotion to disrupt the proceedings. It was all planned. There would have been some justification had they argued in the interest of their party, he said.

"But you seem to speak in defence of TVK. This shows that you are desperate for an alliance. Whichever alliance you form, people will give you a fitting reply in the elections," Stain said.

Later, in a post on the social media platform 'X' chief minister said, "It is not our intention to blame any individual for the Karur tragedy. However, when some people deliberately spread lies about the government, it becomes our duty to explain the truth of what happened." The government was formulating 'Standard Operating Procedures' (SOP) to prevent such incidents from happening again. "We will take all measures based on the final verdict of the Supreme Court. Let us all act with a sense of responsibility that human lives are the most precious thing," Stalin said.

The AIADMK members came to the Assembly sporting black arm bands to condemn the government over the handling of the stampede and the alleged kidney trafficking racket, the party said.

Later, addressing reporters outside the Assembly, Palaniswami claimed that the Karur stampede was unprecedented for any political rally in India.

Flanked by party colleagues at the Secretariat, he accused the state government of "staging a drama to cover up the incident".

Recounting the events inside the House earlier in the day, Palaniswami said he sought permission from the Speaker to make a statement on the stampede.

"I argued with the Speaker that AIADMK is the main opposition party in the Assembly and the party members should be allowed to speak first. Despite my request, the Speaker permitted him (Stalin) to speak first," the former CM said.

Palaniswami said the party MLAs then decided to listen to the chief minister's address, which outlined the government's response to the stampede.

Blaming the DMK government and the police for "negligence", the AIADMK chief said adequate security could have prevented the loss of lives.

Accusing the DMK of "double standards", he said, "There are different rules for the ruling party and the opposition party." "I am not mentioning anything new. I have just told whatever took place (on September 27)," he said, citing media reports.

Palaniswami claimed that previous rallies of the TVK in Tiruchi, Ariyalur, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, and Namakkal, were denied the location requested by the Vijay-led party.

Disputing government claims of deploying 650 personnel to manage the crowd at Velusamypuram in Karur for the TVK rally, Palaniswami pointed out that ADGP S Davidson Devasirvatham had reported only 500 of them.

"... there is a contradiction in the number of police personnel deployed, which gives rise to doubts about the handling of the incident," he said.

Soon after the incident on September 28, Devasirvatham had informed the media that about 500 police personnel were deployed for security at the rally in Karur. PTI JSP VIJ VGN JSP ADB