DMK in a spot as ministers assaulting cadres caught on camera

CHENNAI: The recent visuals of Tamil Nadu Minister for Urban Development, K.N. Nehru, who allegedly held a party cadre by the cuff of his neck and shoved another one during a programme at Salem, were caught on camera.

The video of the incident has gone viral. The function held at Salem was to felicitate party youth leader and Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Udayanidhi Stalin who had reached the city.

With a heavy queue of party cadres lining up to felicitate Udayanidhi, who is also Chief Minister M.K. Stalin's son, K.N. Nehru lost his cool and pushed and shoved a party cadre. After some time, he was seen holding another party worker by the cuff of his collar.

The action of the minister was caught on camera and turned viral with several people sharing the same on social media.

BJP Tamil Nadu unit president, K. Annamalai in a tweet said, "Looks like the DMK ministers have taken a pledge to beat up people. A minister throwing stones at party cadre a few days back and now another roughing up people. Request the Chief Minister to provide protective equipment to keep us safe."

It may be recalled that K.N. Nehru had a few days before was caught on camera hitting a DMK councillor.

A few days back, DMK leader and Minister for Dairy development, S.M. Nasar, in a video, was seen throwing a chair at party workers during a programme at Tiruvallur district. The minister was infuriated as the party cadres were taking time to bring him a chair to sit on.

With the actions of the party minister being caught on camera and turning viral, the party leadership is in a spot. Sources told IANS that the Chief Minister had pulled up both the ministers and told them strictly not to go overboard even in extremely tense situations.

While speaking to IANS, G.R. Mukunda Raja, Professor of Sociology in a college at Tirunelveli, said, "The ministers are slowly showing their true colours. The DMK is a political party which has always had a violent past and the ministers throwing stones at party cadres and holding a cadre by the cuff of his neck are scenes which we will witness in the days to come. If the party and its allies win a large chunk of Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 general elections, the party cadres and leaders will show their true colours to the people. It is better for Chief Minister Stalin to control these arrogant ministers, lest it will affect the image of the party badly."