Questioning the alleged delay on the part of Kallakurichi district administration and police in probing the death of a Class XII girl on her school premises, AIADMK interim general secretary and the Leader of Opposition Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Sunday blamed Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and the police for the violence on the campus.
Talking to reporters after chairing a meeting of AIADMK MLAs in a hotel in Chennai, Mr. Palaniswami contended that if the district administration and police had assured the deceased girl’s mother of action against the institution, if anything wrong was found on its part, the situation would not have come to this. “Chief Minister M.K. Stalin is responsible as he is the head of the government and is also holding the police portfolio,” Mr. Palaniswami charged, accusing the State government and police of being inactive and the district administration of being careless.
No one from the government or the police went to the victim’s house to console the family members, he said. Reiterating his charge that the law and order situation in the State has deteriorated under the DMK government, Mr. Palaniswami claimed that there was no safety for students and women.
On a claim, attributed to a senior police officer, that the school management was not involved in the death, Mr. Palaniswami said, “How can a senior police officer say there is no role for the school administration when he also says an enquiry was under way? Government and police have the responsibility to clear the suspicion in the minds of her parent and people.”
Regarding the DMK's election assurance that it would take steps to abolish NEET in Tamil Nadu, Mr. Palaniswami charged, "DMK has never implemented what it assured. They made the assurance only to get votes. They won the election and have thrown away their assurance."
The AIADMK MLAs’ meeting, Mr. Palaniswami said, was held to brief the MLAs about voting during Monday’s Presidential elections. Three BJP legislators, one of them an agent of the NDA’s presidential candidate, briefed the AIADMK MLAs. The AIADMK had extended its support to NDA Presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu.
The meeting took place in a hotel as M.G.R. Maaligai, the party’s head office, was sealed by Revenue Department officials, following violence when O. Panneerselvam forcibly entered the premises on Monday last. He was eventually expelled by the party’s general council on July 11.
When asked about Mr. Panneerselvam's position in the Assembly, Mr. Palaniswami refused to answer, contending that a related matter was pending before the court.
