Chennai: Two days after CPI state secretary M Veerapandian said that “horse-trading was happening in Tamil Nadu”, CPM state secretary P Shanmugam on Wednesday struck a different note, saying the political developments in the state cannot be equated with the defections seen in north Indian states.“BJP engineering splits in other parties by luring sitting MLAs to topple elected govts is different from MLAs voluntarily resigning and joining another party. Here, the MLAs resigning and joining TVK is the outcome of AIADMK’s internal affairs. The two situations cannot be treated as the same,” Shanmugam told journalists after meeting chief minister C Joseph Vijay at the Secretariat in the city on Wednesday.At the same time, he criticised the newly elected MLAs for resigning within 20 days of taking office. “It is unacceptable. It is a betrayal of the people’s mandate. People should raise their voice against such actions and protest,” he said., adding, “We are against horse-trading, whoever indulges in it, whether it is TVK or DMK.”On Supreme Court’s order directing the eviction of encroachers from the Srivilliputhur-Megamalai Tiger Reserve and Agasthyamalai landscape, CPM urged the Tamil Nadu govt to file an appeal. Shanmugam said the court’s direction to the Central empowered committee to deploy paramilitary forces, if necessary, to assist the eviction drive was “excessively harsh” on people who have lived there for generations. “Tamil Nadu govt should appeal against the order as the eviction drive will affect around 98,000 people living there,” he said.Shanmugam also welcomed state govt’s decision to lift the ban on the registration of inam lands in Karur, saying it would benefit residents of four villages. “We have requested the chief minister to constitute a dedicated committee to address inam land issues across the state,” he said. He hit out at the RSS and Hindu organisations for claiming that inam lands belong to temples. “Their campaign goes against the interests of poor Hindus,” he said.
