Hooch tragedy mars Tamil Nadu assembly: AIADMK, DMK exchange barbs over illicit liquor trade

Chennai: The hooch tragedy in Kallakurichi, which has so far claimed the lives of over 50 people, continued to resonate inside and outside the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Saturday with Opposition AIADMK accusing a DMK legislator of having links with illicit liquor trade, which was vehemently denied by the ruling party.

As the AIADMK continued to protest inside the legislative assembly for the second consecutive day, the ruling DMK alleged that the state’s principal opposition party was “using” the Kallakurichi incident to “hide” its Lok Sabha election failure.

Law Minister S Regupathy wondered why the AIADMK was hell bent on walking out of the House when Speaker M Appavu assured them that he will give them a chance to raise the issue after the Question Hour. “The AIADMK should explain why they insisted that they will discuss the issue only by suspending the Question Hour.

“You seem to be in some crisis. The House cannot allow you space for you to resolve your problems,” Appavu told Palaniswami and his MLAs after they shouted slogans against the government.

Later, Palaniswami alleged that the Opposition MLAs are being denied an opportunity to present people’s problems in the Assembly. “So many lives have been lost. Where else do we discuss the problem if we aren't in the assembly?” he asked.

The Leader of Opposition also alleged that a DMK MLA was also involved in protecting the accused in the tragedy. Separately, two DMK MLAs T Udhayasuriyan and Vasantham K Karthikeyan addressed a press conference and threatened to file a defamation case against PMK founder S Ramadoss and his son Anbumani Ramadoss for connecting them with the illicit liquor mafia.

“They are making baseless allegations against us. We have been in politics for decades together and we have never indulged in any illegal activity,” the MLAs said.

Meanwhile, the Kallakurichi district administration screened people in the affected Karunapuram area and admitted about 50 of them who consumed illicit liquor to a hospital.