Tamil Nadu: Congress asks Jayalalithaa to end agitation

Chennai, Aug 22: Congress today asked Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to direct her party cadres to end the agitation against TNCC president EVKS Elangovan over his alleged remarks against her.

Stating that protesting for a week over the issue was condemnable, AICC Secretary Su Thirunavukarasar asked the AIADMK government to "focus on official work".

"He (Elangovan) has made some comments and soon after issued a statement clarifying it. He said his comments were mistaken. For an issue there may be agitations. But, protests continuing for a week is condemnable," he told reporters.

Meanwhile, AIADMK activists continued agitations against Elangovan over his alleged derogatory remarks on Jayalalithaa's recent meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi here.

"He (Elangovan) has made some comments and protests are happening. But during the series of protests, those engaged in protests used foul languages criticising family members of Elangovan. Who will question them?" he asked.

"We cannot accept that she (Jayalalithaa) is not aware of all these agitations. If she asks her party cadres to put an end, they will listen," Thirunavukarasar said.

Charging the AIADMK government with indulging in violence by attacking the house of Elangovan in Chennai, Erode and also the party office here, he said, "Several official works were pending and instead of taking it up, AIADMK is indulging in violence".

He alleged that when political parties were agitating for prohibition, AIADMK cadres took up the protest voluntarily to divert it.

Asked about reported comments of Karti P Chidambaram, son of senior leader P Chidambaram, stating that Elangovan had crossed the line by making such a 'derogatory' statement, Thirunavukarasar said it may be his personal comment and not of the Congress party.

PTI