Tension at Tejas stoppage inauguration as DMK, BJP cadres raise slogans

CHENNAI: Tense moments prevailed during the inauguration of stoppage for train 22671 Chennai Egmore-Madurai Tejas Superfast Express at Tambaram Railway Station on Sunday when cadres of the ruling parties in the state and the centre raised slogans, hailing their respective government and leaders.

Adding to this, former union minister and senior DMK leader T R Baalu expressed his displeasure during the programme for allotting 5 minutes for him to deliver his speech in the scheduled programme.

Union minister of state for Information and Broadcasting, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry L Murugan, DMK Parliament party leader and former union minister T R Baalu, Mayor of Tambaram Corporation K Vasanthakumari and officials of the Southern Railways participated in the event. As per the programme schedule, former union minister Baalu was given 5 minutes time to deliver a speech.

Irked over this, Baalu said that he has been taking efforts for the stoppage of the train before he became the MP in 2019. The time allocated for him would not permit him to speak about the sustained efforts, he said and ended his speech to express his displeasure over the organisers of the programme. The visually upset DMK leader refused to receive the green flag to signal the stoppage when the Railway officials and union minister Murugan handed over it to him.

Later, Murugan flagged off the train to mark the stoppage of the train at the station, which would help the passengers from Tambaram and its suburban areas to avoid travelling to Egmore to board the train. Murugan also spoke on the occasion elaborating the efforts of the Union government’s efforts for the welfare of the state and its people.

When the event was taking place, the DMK and BJP functionaries raised slogans to outdo each other. Baalu, shortly after the event, said the sustained efforts of the DMK party and its MPs demanding the stoppage of TEJAS superfast train at Tambaram had paid off.