CHENNAI: The AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday charged the DMK government for not solving the ongoing cold war between the transport and police departments.

The former chief minister’s statement came against the backdrop of a recent spat between policemen and transport employees after a cop refused to buy a ticket while travelling in a government bus at Nanguneri.

Pointing out that when DMK came to power in 2021, Chief Minister MK Stalin had announced that police personnel on duty can travel free of cost in all government buses, Palaniswami said “The announcement just looks like an advertisement after this incident was reported”.

“This issue between policemen and transport staff should have been solved well before the escalation”, he said adding that the problem went up to three days after both the transport secretary and home secretary met to resolve the issue.

Urging the State government as per the announcement in the State Assembly that the police personnel on duty should travel freely in government buses, he said “If the transport department incurs loss in this regard, the State government should compensate that”.

Also, Palaniswami asked the State government to solve the cold war between the state transport employees and police personnel immediately to bring normalcy.