Udhayanidhi leads rain relief works; DyCM passed 1st litmus test, say DMK workers

CHENNAI: A fortnight after his elevation as the Deputy Chief Minister of the State, minister Udhayanidhi Stalin swung into action monitoring northeast monsoon relief works.

Udhayanidhi led from the front the relief works on the intervening night of October 14 and 15. He inspected the banks of Narayanapuram Lake between Palliakaranai and Kovilambakkam at half past midnight on October 14.

The Deputy CM followed it up with a visit to the same place at 5 pm the next day to check the status of the works. On the whole Udhayanidhi was the face of the DMK regime during the emergency response in the capital city. It was evident even in the monsoon preparedness meeting organised by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) too.

Udhayanidhi did the hard yards to set the narrative in favour of the government, taking on the criticism of the Opposition and media. "Lack of water logging is a white paper in itself", was Udhay’s quirk reply to EPS. DMK supporters claim that the newly taken-over deputy CM has succeeded in his first political litmus test.

DMK workers point out how, unlike last year, the volunteers and social workers actively monitoring flooding and urban planning were invited for the monsoon preparedness meetings at Ripon Building, thanks to the intervention of the office of the deputy CM which instructed civic officials to involve them in the planning instead of utilising them only in relief works.

Between 12.15 am on October 15 and 2.30 pm on October 16, the weed overgrowth blocking the water flow in the Narayanapuram Lake’s canal leading to the lake was removed. The deputy CM's rain missions were planned in such a way that he was seen inspecting works, engaging frontline workers and monitoring relief works in north, south and central Chennai every day during the three days of rain in the city. So much so that Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami accused Udhay of overshadowing ministers of various stakeholder departments.