Ruling DMK wants to sabotage growth of my party: Vijaykanth

Chennai, Dec 25 (UNI) Actor-turned-politician and DMDK Chief Vijayakanth today charged the ruling DMK with trying to sabotage the growth of his party by instigating yesterday's clashes between his partymen and the AIADMK.

Talking to reporters here, he blamed the DMK government for the violence between the DMDK and the Opposition AIADMK workers in Madurai yesterday while celebrating the death anniversary of late chief minister and AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran.

''It was the duty of the police to make arrangements to ensure peace when political parties pay homage to MGR statue in Madurai''.

''But the police allowed both the DMDK and AIADMK men to gather near the statue at the same time to garland it, leading to clashes.

''Police could have avoided the incident by giving adequate time to both the parties to garland the statue, he said.

Condemning the arrest of some DMDK men in connection with the clashes following complaints from ''public'', Vijayakanth expressed surprise how the arrests were made when no complaint was lodged by the two parties involved in the clash.

He alleged that the arrest of DMDK workers was a conspiracy by the DMK to prevent the growth of his party.

Though MGR statues across the state were garlanded, violence broke out only in Madurai which had created suspicion that the DMK was behind the clashes, he claimed.

Alleging that police foisted cases on DMDK men, Vijayakanth urged the State government to release his party workers immediately.

On BJP retaining power in Gujarat, Vijayakanth said Mr Narendra Modi won the elections due to his performance on development front.

UNI