TVK faces criticism from its allies

Despite being one of its strongest allies, senior leaders of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, including Sivaganga M.P., Karti Chidambaram, Karur MP S. Jothimani, and Mayiladuthurai M.P., R. Sudha have been scathing in criticising the TVK-led government over the recent spate of “revenge” murders, deterioration of law and order in the State and demanded action against TVK Kallakurichi MLA for his allegedly objectionable message to the District Collector.

While TNCC president B. Manickam Tagore restated State School Education minister Rajmohan’s response (that murder cases during TVK government should be compared with the same last year), urging the State government to provide crime data periodically to counter DMK’s “propaganda”, Mr. Karti was much more direct in his criticism of the School Education Minister.

Responding to Mr. Rajmohan’s defence on X.com, Mr. Karti said, “This is classic whataboutery by Minister, the fact is that murders, particularly planned revenge killings are taking place, this is alarming & worrisome. Degenerate criminal behaviour is rising in society. It’s incumbent upon the government to have a visible show of force, increase patrolling & random ID checks and mandate all those in K.D. lists report to the designated police station daily. Statistics that these murders happened previously is no solace to the citizenry.”

Lok Sabha M.P.s, Ms. Jothimani and Ms. Sudha called for action against TVK Kallakurichi MLA, C. Arul Vignesh, for allegedly sending an objectionable message to Kallakurichi’s collector.

After criticising the decision to disband the high-level committee on Union-State relations, Ms. Jothimani also underlined the need to ensure safe working spaces for women.

“Reports are circulating on social media that a TVK MLA allegedly sent obscene text messages to the Kallakurichi District Collector and behaved inappropriately when he went to meet her in person. The Kallakurichi District Collector is said to have filed a formal complaint about this. If these social media reports are true, a proper investigation must be conducted and strict action taken. No matter how high a woman rises through her knowledge, skills and hard work, we simply cannot move beyond this kind of deplorable mindset that ultimately sees her as nothing more than a woman and a body,” she said.

Ms. Sudha urged the Chief Minister to investigate the allegation against the MLA. “It is unacceptable that the District Collector, a woman serving in this role, has been placed in such a morally distressing situation while ensuring the safety of people from all walks of life in the district,” she said.

A senior Congress leader said the TVK-led government should form a co-ordination committee to steer the State Government and make decision-making accountable.

A senior VCK leader said that these issues that the State government is facing is due to the fact that Tamil Nadu is not used to “coalition governments”.

“We are still learning about how to handle disagreements within a coalition government. It will take time. We need a proper forum to address disagreements,” he said.