Karur Stampede
'They could have stopped me': Vijay blames police, former DMK government over Karur stampede
Chennai/IBNS: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief Thalapathy Vijay has blamed the police and the previous DMK government over the Karur stampede, as he revisited the district where a massive political rally last year ended in tragedy with the deaths of 41 people.
Vijay, who was then an emerging political leader, alleged that the police had misled him on the day of the incident and failed to prevent the tragedy.
'Police could have stopped me'
Addressing supporters, Vijay questioned the role of the police in allowing the rally to proceed.
"No matter how much success one enjoys... there are such incidents in life. When I entered Karur, they (the police) could have stopped me, no?" Vijay said, as quoted by NDTV.
"They had every right to cancel the meeting. But they did not cancel; they guided me in..." he added.
Vijay targets the DMK
The Chief Minister also launched a sharp attack on the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which was in power when the stampede occurred.
"Who is really responsible for this... who orchestrated this?" Vijay asked.
The TVK chief accused the DMK of questioning his silence in the aftermath of the tragedy and alleged that then Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had politicised the incident.
"You mocked me... when I was feeling crushed and in pain at home, you said I was 'hiding'," Vijay said as quoted by the broadcaster.
"Did the police deploy enough personnel? They shamelessly put the blame on me, and M.K. Stalin did politics in the Assembly," he added.
TVK's rise to power
Vijay currently heads the TVK-led government in alliance with multiple parties, including the Congress, a former ally of the DMK.
In its electoral debut, the TVK emerged as the single largest party, winning 108 seats and significantly disrupting the decades-long dominance of the DMK and AIADMK in Tamil Nadu politics.
However, the party fell short of the 118-seat majority mark and secured the support of its allies to form the government.
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