Will act tough against vandals: CM Edappadi K Palaniswami

Stalin observed that it is pertinent to note that the BJP national secretary H Raja’s call to take on Periyar statues in the context of pulling down Communist icon Vladimir Lenin’s statue in Tripura, has a cascading effect. 

“Had the state taken action against (Raja) then itself, such incidents would not have recurred. This had encouraged such elements to act further,” Stalin said. The DMK working president also sought to know why no action had not been taken against the instigator (read Raja) while it had arrested the leaders of various outfits democratically protesting against the communal RathYathra. 

In reply, the CM, who condemned the desecration of Periyar statues, informed the House that Senthilkumar, a CRPF jawan, working in Chhattisgarh, who was on leave since March 15, was arrested in this regard. 

“Soon after the report of the incident, senior police officials who rushed to the spot ensured that there was no untoward incident and the ‘damaged’ head was restored. A case was registered and special teams were formed to nab the culprit,” the CM said.

Palaniswami, who delved deep into the investigation of the case, observed that Senthilkumar was spotted moving around the statue in an inebriated condition and the available CCTV footage too pointed to the same. 

“He was taken into custody and he admitted to desecrating the Periyar statue during interrogation,” Palaniswami added. 

On Senthilkumar’s antecedents, the CM, quoting the police probe, said that the suspect had opposed the erection of the statue near his house way back in 2013, and had vowed to desecrate it if it was installed despite his objection. 

“He was subsequently arrested and remanded in judicial custody. It is because of the swift investigation, the case had been cracked within 12 hours following the report,” the CM said. Referring to the March 6 incident relating to desecration of another Periyar statue in Vellore district, Palaniswami recalled that a BJP functionary and another man had been arrested. “Both these incidents are condemnable. The government will initiate stringent action against anyone found damaging statues of leaders,” he said. 

Meanwhile, a CRPF release on Wednesday stated, “Head Constable S Senthil Kumar is suffering ADS with Schizophrenia. Accordingly, Unit Medical Officer referred him to CRPH Hyderabad for further treatment. After treatment, individual proceeded on 30 days leave to his hometown,” the release said.

Errors in crop insurance to be resolved by April: Sellur Raju 

State Cooperatives Minister Sellur K Raju on Wednesday assured in the Assembly that the discrepancies in distributing crop insurance to farmers would be resolved by the middle of April. 

Intervening DMK MLA K Pitchandi during the budget debate, Raju admitted to clerical errors resulting in some state farmers receiving insurance less than the premium paid and said that about 99 per cent farmers have been compensated in the state and discrepancies would be set right and the remaining farmers would be provided proper insurance cover before April 15. 

Minister Raju was responding to the charges made by Pitchandi, who, participating in the debate, produced cheques showing payments in the range of Rs 5 and 10 to farmers, who had paid Rs 50 and 100 premium respectively.