TNCC chief confident of alliance win in RK Nagar

“People will choose us,” he said, while interacting with media persons at the Coimbatore airport on Thursday. When asked whether the DMK or Congress would contest from RK Nagar, he said talks in this regard were on with the Dravidian major. 

Recalling that the DMK contested from the segment in the 2016 election, Thirunavukkarasar said, “In the 2016 polls, Congress contested from 41 assembly segments but RK Nagar was not among them.” He said that the Election Commission should ensure that the bypoll was free from ‘money power’. 

Condemning the killing of a 22-year-old fisherman of Thangachimadam allegedly by the Lankan Navy, he said that such incidents were deplorable. “The killers, even if they were from the Sri Lankan Navy, should be booked and punished under the Indian Penal Code”, he added. 

Thirunavukkarasar said that the union government should ensure that the issue was dealt with in the same manner as was done in the case of Italian Marines who killed fishermen from Kerala. The Centre should ensure that the Sri Lankan government granted Rs 1 crore as compensation to the victim’s family.

“Such stringent punishments should be a lesson for Sri Lanka so that they refrain from attacking our fishermen,” he added. Stating that the compensation granted by the state government to the victim’s family was not enough, the TNCC chief said that both the state and central governments should announce Rs 25 lakh to the fisherman’s family. 

Condemning the Kerala government for construction of check dams across the Bhavani, he said that the union government should stop such activities across rivers flowing into Tamil Nadu from neighbouring states. He said the move has also been opposed by the state government. Thirunavukkarasar added that the party would participate in the all-party protest on Tamil Nadu-Kerala border on March 12 against construction of the dams.

Thirunavukkarasar refuted rumours about conflict among senior leaders in the State unit. When asked about the different views expressed by him and his predecessor EVKS Elangovan on various issues, he said that everyone was entitled to freedom of expression and this shouldn’t be turned into something else.