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Former AIADMK ministers Sellur K Raju and R B Udhayakumar are staging a protest in Madurai Monday condemning Tamil Nadu’s ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government for registering an
FIR against party interim general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami over the alleged assault of a passenger at Madurai airport. On Sunday, police booked former Tamil Nadu chief minister
Palaniswami and five others for the alleged assault on Saturday. The man was identified as Rajeshwaran, 42, a supporter of V K Sasikala, who was expelled from the party by Palaniswami after
the death of AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa in 2016. The police said Rajeshwaran, a worker of the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), was on the same shuttle bus at the airport as
Palaniswami. “Rajeshwaran began to yell at EPS (Palaniswami) while simultaneously recording a Facebook Live, calling him a betrayer of Sasikala. Soon, his cellphone was grabbed by EPS’s
security,” a police official said. He was later handed over to security officers. > Man believed to be a supporter of ousted AIADMK leader VK Sasikala > calls Leader of Opposition
#EdappadiPalaniswami a symbol of betrayal > at Madurai Airport. > (Received on WhatsApp) pic.twitter.com/1hj8iPmz52 > > — Janardhan Koushik (@koushiktweets) March 11, 2023
Addressing reporters on Sunday, Raju said any man would have reacted in such a situation but Edappadi remained calm. “Annan (brother) Edappadi came to Madurai to participate in a meeting at
Sivaganga. At the airport, a drunk man spoke in a disrespectful manner against the former chief minister. Despite our leader being calm and not reacting in any manner, the man continued to
raise slogans against him. The security then went near and took the phone away from him. This is what happened. However, the police have added our leader’s name in the FIR in a false case.
This has been done by Chief Minister M K Stalin due to political vendetta,” Raju said. He noted that the government should have apologised for not providing enough security for Palaniswami,
but instead registered a case against him. If Stalin thinks he can intimidate the Opposition with such antics, it will not work, he added. Raju said the AIADMK’s legal team is taking
measures with regard to the case.