The DMK on Saturday demanded that an open and a transparent inquiry be conducted to find out the reasons for the train accident in Odisha.
It also called for the findings be placed in the public domain. Addressing the media here, the party’s deputy general secretary A. Raja said the party, especially DMK president and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, did not want to politicise the issue.
While refraining from demanding the resignation of Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw, he, however, pointed out that India had a history of Railway Ministers taking moral responsibility and resigning from their posts when such major accidents happened. He stressed the need for “fixing responsibility” on those responsible for the accident.
He criticised Mr. Vaishnaw for not addressing the media over the preliminary findings, even after 24 hours of such a major accident. Recalling the criticisms levelled by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday, Mr. Raja said the present Union government was engaged in grandeur and advertisement, and was diverting from real issues instead of focusing on key issues such as safety.
Alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was going to different places in the country to flag off every new Vande Bharat train, he asked why he had not said anything about the cause of the accident.
He said the DMK did not want to act like the BJP and the AIADMK, which he said, demand the resignation of Chief Minister or Ministers concerned even for smaller issues that happen in Tamil Nadu.
The two parties should stop doing that in the future and act responsibly like the DMK, he said.
