Amma’ stickers on relief materials fuel anger

Social activists criticised the state government for exploiting the flood situation to garner publicity. Social activist Prabakar, from Chennai, who is coordinating relief materials to Kerala, said that the same happened in 2015 when AIADMK men intercepted relief materials that were sent to Chennai from other parts of the state and pasted the stickers of Jayalalithaa. Now the same is happening in Erode and Namakkal and the state government had exploited the flood situation in their favour, said Prabakar.

Politicians also criticised the state government for putting up the stickers of Jayalalithaa on relief materials. CPI State Secretary, R Mutharasan, told DT Next that the AIADMK cadres had no trust on the present state government ruled by Chief Minister, Edappadi K Palaniswami and so the state government is trying to impose an image on the cadres and people by putting up the image of Jayalalithaa. 

He also added that the state government is using Jayalalithaa only to grab votes and nothing else. “The state government is not following the policies and schemes of Jayalalithaa but is only using her name to create a fake image,” Mutharasan said. 

Downpour in Karnataka and Kerala resulted in flood in Cauvery river and its tributaries, flowing in the western districts of Erode, Namakkal, Karur and so on. Due to the flood, many of the villages were inundated and around 1,500 people were made to stay in relief camps in Erode and Namakkal districts.