CHENNAI: The AIADMK on Tuesday condemned the arrest of Durai Senapathy, Erode zonal joint secretary of the party's IT Wing, ahead of Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay's visit to Erode, and demanded his immediate release.

Taking a swipe at the Chief Minister, the party accused him of relying on social media reels and using preventive action as a pretext to arrest political functionaries. It termed the arrest highly condemnable and alleged that the change in government had made little difference to the treatment meted out to opposition party workers.

Questioning the police action, the AIADMK said officers quickly arrested a party functionary for his social media activity but failed to rein in ruling party supporters allegedly creating disturbances in front of the Chief Minister's convoy.

The party accused the TVK government of adopting the very practices it had condemned while in opposition and alleged the arrest was aimed at muzzling political voices. It urged the government to release Senapathy immediately.