Chennai: DMK president M K Stalin said he chose not to politicise the Karur stampede which killed 41 people on Sept 27 last year, but chief minister C Joseph Vijay was “stooping low” by exploiting the Pocso case on granite baron R Veeramani for bypolls.
On Vijay’s allegations that DMK cadres speak derogatorily about women, Stalin asked the TVK chief to check the statements of his party’s “virtual warriors”.
“Neither I nor DMK tried to derive petty political mileage from your cowardly flight from Karur ignoring the death of 41 people.
All I said at the time was no leader would want his cadres to die. Stalin said he had responded in detail about the case and Vijay would have been aware of it if he had read the newspaper. I have already spoken about it in detail,” he said. “CM sir, introspect and ask yourself if you are speaking in a manner befitting the office of chief minister,” Stalin said.
“You (Vijay) shouted in a high pitch, asking me to open my mouth about the ‘Gem’ Veeramani case. Did you come without updating your script paper? But take some time to think about how low you have stooped in your conduct,” Stalin said in a statement, responding to Vijay’s Madurantakam campaign speech on Friday.