Rattled by Karur stampede, TVK postpones mass outreach programme

With its frontline leaders on the run and party president and actor Vijay confined to his home, the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) has put off for a fortnight its mass outreach campaign in the aftermath of the killer stampede at Karur last Saturday.

While the rattled TVK is yet to recover from the shock of the horrendous tragedy at Vijay’s Karur rally which claimed 41 lives, the party has been facing flak from the ruling DMK and its allies as well as the state government.

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“At a time when we are in deep sorrow and agony, having lost our dear ones, our party president’s mass outreach campaign has been postponed for two weeks. Further information on resumption of the campaign will be announced later,” read a message posted on the TVK headquarters ‘X’ handle on Wednesday.

This announcement came in the wake of the state police launching a manhunt for TVK general secretary Bussy N Anand following the registration of an FIR against him and deputy general secretary CTR Nirmal Kumar. The police have already arrested TVK Karur district secretary Mathiyalagan and another functionary Paunraj and they have been remanded to judicial custody. Anand Kumar has moved Madras High Court seeking anticipatory bail. The court is yet to give relief.

Vijay, who remained incommunicado since Saturday, broke his silence and dared the chief minister to take revenge on him, but spare the TVK functionaries and cadre. Countering the criticism against him and the TVK for the ghastly tragedy, the actor asked, “Why and how this had happened in Karur while in all other previous places it has passed off incident-free and peacefully.”

“The truth will come out soon,” he asserted, lending credence to conspiracy theory for the tragic incident.

Meanwhile, former DMK minister and party Karur District Secretary V Senthil Balaji refuted conspiracy theories and squarely blamed Vijay and the unruly TVK cadre for the tragedy. “Vijay and TVK should introspect instead of blaming others. True it was a massive rally, but an unruly infantile one,” he told the media in Karur.

“Footwear was hurled at Vijay by TVK cadre to stop his address, as some in the crowd, waiting for long hours, had swooned and fell down. The crowd crashed into the generator shed as well. Had Vijay arrived on time this would not have happened in Karur,” he reasoned.