Molotov cocktail attack on Congress MP Karti Chidambaram’s office in Karaikudi

The sleepy town of Karaikudi in the Sivaganga district woke up to a molotov cocktail attack on the office of Congress MP Karti Chidambaram in the small hours on Wednesday, rattling the public.

Only in the morning the incident came to light and police launched an investigation. Since the office at Subramaniyapuram locality in the town remained locked at night, none was injured and the building did not suffer any major damage, police added. The MP was also not present in the locality.

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After visiting the place, Sivaganga Police SP R Shiva Prasad has formed special teams to nab the culprits.

Karaikudi is the business hub of the district and the attack on the local MP’s office ahead of the assembly election has raised an alarm. According to police the exact time of the miscreants hurling the petrol bombs could not be ascertained immediately since there was no CCTV camera in the building or close by.

On learning about the incident, Congress legislator S Mangudi, a loyalist of Chidambaram, rushed to the spot. Condemning the incident as dastardly, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president K Selvaperunthagai said “In a democracy, ideas have to be countered with ideas and not through violence, which is unacceptable. Such incidents, besides being a grave threat to law and order, would pose a challenge to democratic ideals.”

Expressing shock and registering his strong condemnation, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) president Anbumani Ramadoss, an NDA ally, described the petrol bomb attack as yet another instance of lawlessness under the DMK government. “This incident shows that the DMK government has completely failed in Tamil Nadu. Both Chidambaram and Karti Chidambaram are MPs as well as leaders of the DMK-led alliance and their residences and offices should have been provided police security.

Another NDA constituent, AMMK, has also condemned the incident with party general secretary TTV Dhinakaran saying that under the DMK government, incapable of providing security to the leaders of its alliance parties, law and order has deteriorated.