Police turns down Sengottaiyan''s plea to hold Vijay''s rally in Erode, after spot inspection

Erode (Tamil Nadu), Dec 7 (PTI) Police declined permission to hold TVK chief Vijay's public meeting in Erode on December 16, after former minister K A Sengottaiyan, who recently joined the party, submitted a petition on Sunday, sources in the department said.

Erode is the home turf of Sengottaiyan, a nine-time MLA and former minister, who joined the actor-politician's party after being expelled from AIADMK. The meeting would have been an opportunity for him to prove his strength in organising a meeting of this scale.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, "The TVK chief will visit Erode on December 16 and address a public meeting in a private land near a marriage hall".

The former minister also submitted a petition to the District Collector S Kandasamy seeking permission for the meeting. Later, he submitted a copy of the petition to the officials in the District Police Office.

Following this, A Sujatha, Superintendent of Police, inspected the seven-acre site in the Pavalathampalayam area on Erode-Perundurai Road where TVK wanted to hold the meeting.

Later, police officials told the media that TVK's petition stated that they expected a 70-thousand strong crowd. The site proposed by them is quite inadequate to accommodate that much crowd and their vehicles and hence permission was declined, they added.

The officials also said that the decision was communicated to Sengottaiyan, and he was asked to choose a different spot. PTI CORR ADB