After announcing a dawn to dusk shutdown on April 5 condemning the center for not setting up of the Cauvery Management Board, DMK along with several opposition parties staged a flash protest at Valluvar Kottam on Sunday afternoon on Cauvery issue taking the police by surprise.
After announcing a dawn to dusk shutdown on April 5 condemning the center for not setting up of the Cauvery Management Board, DMK along with several opposition parties staged a flash protest at Valluvar Kottam on Sunday afternoon on Cauvery issue taking the police by surprise.
DMK working president MK Stalin, Congress state unit president Super. Thirunavukkarasar, Dravidar Kazhagam president K Veeramani, CPI(M) state secretary K Balakrishnan, CPI state secretary R Mutharasan, Viduthala Chiruthaigal Katchi president Thol Thirunavukkarasar and others were arrested by the police.
As the police arrested the opposition party leaders, the party cadres staged a road roko on the busy Valluvar Kottam junction while raising slogans condemning the centre and the state government for failing to set up the CMB.
Leading the flash protest, DMK leader Stalin said in the all-party meeting it was decided to hold such protest until the formation of the CMB. “Police might arrest us but they would not put us in the prison as they jail’s don’t have space to accommodate so many cadres. They will release us in the evening. But we will continue to hold such protests,” he told cadres gathered in large number in short notice here. He also urged the cadres not to move from the protest venue until the police remove.
Stalin said that all-party decided to hold a day-long shutdown on April 5 when all the shops would be closed and no vehicles would ply and trains would be blocked. He said that a decision to hold a Cauvery Rights Retrieval padayatra has been taken. The date and places of padayatra routes would be announced later, he said. He added that all-party cadres would show black flags to Prime Minister Narendra and his cabinet ministers whenever they visit the state for not forming the CMB.
The protest by the DMK led opposition parties in Chennai has triggered a chain reaction with the party cadres staging road roko in several parts of the state. DMK Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi along with her party cadres were arrested by the police in Tirunelveli for staging road roko.
With the six weeks deadline for the centre to form the CMB and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee set by the Supreme Court ended on March 29, Tamil Nadu has been witnessing protests in various parts of the state with members of the some fringe groups climbed the cell phone towers seeking the CMB.
AIADMK government which has been accused by the opposition parties of going soft on the BJP led Central government has also announced a day-long fast on April 3 in all the district headquarters seeking the formation of the board.
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