Jaya criticises DMK MLA arrest an "eyewash"

Chennai, Nov 4 (UNI) AIADMK General Secretary J Jayalalithaa today dismissed as an ''eyewash'', the arrest of DMK legislator V S Babu, in connection with the violent incidents in the October 13 Chennai Corporation elections.

In a statement here, Ms Jayalalithaa said the DMK Government had enacted a ''big drama'' by arresting its party MLA to cover up the unprecedented violence, which earned a bad name for the Government.

The DMK Government should cancel the elections to the Chennai Corporation and order repoll, she demanded adding only after the Communist Party of India (Marxist) announced a state-wide agitation on November six, did the Government stage the "arrest drama".

She said by arresting the legislator in connection with the violence, the DMK Government had accepted that there were violent incidents in the elections.

However, the City Police Commissioner and the Director General of Police, soon after the elections, had said the elections were by and large peaceful, Ms Jayalalithaa said and wanted to know the veracity of their statements.

By arresting the MLA, representing Purasaiwalkam assembly constituency in the city, the DMK was trying to give an impression that only the Purasaiwalkam area had witnessed violence.

But the fact was that the DMK had unleashed violence in all the 155 wards. ''People did not participate in the elections and the Government can not cheat the public,'' she added.

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