Plaints mount against ruling party men, arrests only on opposition: Udhayanidhi Stalin

TIRUNELVELI: Leader of Opposition and DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin on Monday alleged that the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government was focused solely on targeting opposition legislators and that its "full-time job" was to lure DMK and AIADMK MLAs by "offering sofas."

He made the remarks during his visit to Tirunelveli to meet jailed DMK MLA GV Markandayan, arrested for making a threatening and defamatory speech against Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay.

"In Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi, even members of the TVK have lodged complaints against their own party functionaries. However, no action has been taken on those complaints. Instead, they are spending all 24 hours trying to poach DMK and AIADMK MLAs by offering sofas. You yourselves know whom I am referring to," Udhayanidhi told reporters, alleging that the TVK government was targeting DMK functionaries.

Referring to Markandayan's arrest, Udhayanidhi said, "Our MLA Markandeyan has been in prison for the past eight days. He was arrested for allegedly speaking against the government. The TVK government has taken such action only to intimidate him. Our party president asked me to visit him and inquire about his well-being. Accordingly, I, along with former ministers Geetha Jeevan and Anitha R Radhakrishnan, met him in prison." “Markandyan is in good spirits" he added.