Eggs, stones thrown at Kamal’s rally, no nod for Sulur campaign

No one was injured in the incident at Aravakurichi which happened when Kamal was getting off the stage after completing his address. He was escorted to safety, police said.

MNM workers roughed up the two persons suspected to have hurled stones and eggs, before police rescued them and took then away for questioning. MNM workers staged a protest but police officials held talks with them.

The incident comes a day after footwear was hurled towards a vehicle from which Kamal was addressing an election meeting in the Tiruparankundram Assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday evening.

Kamal, founder of new political outfit Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), kicked up a controversy this week with his comment that “free India’s first extremist was a Hindu,” a reference to Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse.

Police said permission has not been granted for Kamal to undertake the bypoll campaign in Sulur in Coimbatore in the backdrop of the ongoing controversy.

Meanwhile Kamal Haasan asked the residents of Aravakurichi to vote honestly which would bring a change in the state and a government for the people wouldbe established.

Campaigning for party candidate S Mohanraj, Kamal said, the people of the region are waiting for drinking water for more than a week. “It is your right to get potable water and it is the duty of government to provide safe drinking water to the people. Those who ruled earlier and those who are ruling now, are responsible for this water shortage and so I have plunged into politics. I have come with severe anger and now, feel happy to speak among the people,” he said.

Tiruparankundram police have filed a case against eleven persons, including KP Velmurugan (40), Madurai BJP zonal president, a resident of Vajbai Nagar, Big Car Street, Tiruparankundram after they were indulged in shouting at a venue where Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) president Kamal Haasan was campaigning for his party candidate P Sakthivel. Based on a complaint lodged by Nagarajan, Inspector of Police, a case was filed against eleven persons under Sections 143 and 504 of IPC read/with 127 (1) of The Representation of the People Act. Commotion prevailed in the meeting after the slipper attack. As the MNM cadre attempted to assault the attackers, Kamal intervened and said ‘we don’t have to worry about it; they (police) will take care of it.’ Police removed over a dozen people soon after the slipper attack for questioning and restored normalcy.