Jaya condemns MLA's arrest

Chennai, Oct 16 (UNI) All India Anna DMK (AIADMK) General Secretary J Jayalalithaa today condemned the arrest of Party Legislator P K Sekar Babu and registration of criminal cases against Former AIADMK Minister B Valarmathi.

Describing the arrest as an act of vengeance, Ms Jayalalithaa, in a strongly worded statement here, said Mr Babu was undergoing treatment after 'the brutal police attack' when he was arrested last night and lodged in the prison.

This was an example of a 'autocratic rule' in the state, she said.

She said Mr Babu was one of the active party leaders and the arrest was aimed at crippling his activities and deplored registering cases against him and Ms Valarmathi on the charges of instigating and supplying petrol bombs to party workers to derail the local body elections.

The DMK which was boasting that the city was its fort, suffered a severe blow after it had lost as many as seven seats to the AIADMK in the last Assembly elections.

As it could not digest this, the DMK Government was foisting cases against active AIADMK leaders to take revenge, she charged.

The registration of cases against Mr Babu and Ms Valarmathi following the seizure of petrol bombs in a vehicle check up was bogus and a clear act of vengeance.

''The bomb culture only belongs to the DMK and AIADMK cadre never indulge in such acts,'' she said.

Accusing the DMK and its ally, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) of unleashing violence in the local body elections, she said the DMK, in a bid to divert the issue, was trying to shift the blame on AIADMK, but it would not succeed.

After earning a bad name following the violent incidents in the elections, the DMK was trying to fix the AIADMK, but she firmly believed they could not cheat the people, Ms Jayalalithaa said.

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