The All India Anna Dravia Munnetra Kazhagam on Tuesday launched a day-long hunger strike in protest against the Centre’s delay in implementing the Supreme Court’s order to constitute a Cauvery Management Board, the deadline for which ended on March 28.
District functionaries of the ruling party in Tamil Nadu participated in the protest, with Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam joining a demonstration in Chennai. The strike began at 8 am and will continue till 5 pm. AIADMK MPs staged a protest outside Parliament, as well.
TTV Dinakaran, who leads a faction of the AIADMK, was detained along with his supporters after he attempted to stage a protest at the Tiruchirappalli airport. Markets did not open in Coimbatore in the morning after the traders’ association in the city called a strike, ANI reported. Traders downed shutters in Tiruchi and Pudukottai.
Other parties also joined the statewide protests. The Madurai Police detained 56 activists of the Makkal Viduthalai Katchi after they attempted to stop a train outside the city railway junction, The Hindu reported. In Thanjavur, 30 members of the Tamilaga Cauvery Vivasayigal Sangam were detained after they tried to stop trains near the Thanjavur Junction.
Members of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam also staged demonstrations in Chennai, in Papanasam in Tirunelveli district and in the districts of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam.
Meanwhile, the Centre government on Tuesday mentioned the matter before Supreme Court, seeking clarification about setting up the management board. The government has asked the court whether it can modify the board’s composition. The plea said that a clarification from the court was necessary to avoid “further litigation by the states”. The Supreme Court said it would hear the matter on April 9.
The Centre’s delay in setting up the board has irked political parties in Tamil Nadu. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is set to lead a statewide shutdown on April 5, and wave black flags at Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he visits Chennai on April 11. The state police detained around 200 of the party’s workers in Chennai on Monday after they blocked roads in a busy thoroughfare in the city.
The representatives of a number of farmers’ associations have also called for a shutdown on April 11. They made the decision at a meeting that the Pattali Makkal Katchi in Chennai on March 30.
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