Rival groups of AIADMK members disrupted a party meeting here on Sunday as they clashed with each other in the presence of Backward Classes and Minority Welfare Minister S. Valarmathi.
According to an eyewitness, commotion was caused by a group of about 50 carrying flags of a “Mutharaiyar” outfit after entering a private marriage hall in Srirangam where the meeting of “Ilaigner and Ilampengal Pasarai” of AIADMK’s Tiruchi district (rural north) was under way to take stock of the party’s preparedness for the upcoming Assembly elections. The police did not prevent the group as the members claimed that they had come to enrol in the party.
Members of the group rushed to the dais and raised slogans that loyalists and those who had worked hard for the party had not been given due recognition. They indulged in vandalism and verbally abused those present.
Ms. Valarmathi, Paramasivam, State secretary of “Ilaigner and Ilampengal Pasarai” and M. Paramjothi, former Minister and AIADMK district secretary, attempted to pacify them. But they did not relent for nearly 20 minutes before leaving the hall.
Complaint lodged
AIADMK sources told The Hindu that a functionary of the party, who was disappointed with the district unit for refusing to name him as a union secretary, had instigated the ruckus by mobilising the group in the garb of the Mutharaiyar outfit. Diamond G. Thirupathi, Srirangam zonal secretary of AIADMK lodged a complaint against Kannadasan, district secretary of fishermen wing and his supporters, with the Srirangam police in connection with the incident.
The meeting resumed after the commotion subsided.
