Stalin held on "law and order" grounds; released

: DMK working president M K Stalin was today arrested near here on grounds of "law and order," when he attempted to proceed to Salem to oversee the desilting work of a lake, over which his party men and AIADMK (Amma) workers had clashed.
The DMK leader, who was kept in a marriage hall, along with over 100 party workers was released in the evening and left for Chennai by flight, police said.
Earlier speaking to reporters, Stalin alleged "rampant corruption" in the desilting of lakes in the state and said the party would soon release a list of Ministers "involved in corruption."

Stalin said Rs 300 crore had been allotted for desilting of lakes and asked, "But where has that money gone?"
"The party has a list of ministers involved in the corruption and will soon release their names," he said.
Stating that his "preventive" arrest was a victory for DMK, as the ruling party feared a backlash from the public, Stalin said Chief Minister K Palaniswami and some other state ministers were "prostrating" before the Prime Minister and other ministers for getting NEET exemption for Tamil Nadu.

"What transpired during the meetings, nobody knows," he said, adding that his party was on a mission to desilt lakes across the state for storing water.

"Instead of arresting me, police should arrest DGP T K Rajendran, who was involved in the gutkha scam," Stalin said.
Stalin claimed that the police denied him permission to visit Salem to participate in the human chain protest seeking exemption for the state from NEET.
Though there was no ban on him visiting the lake, police barred him from going there as well, citing law and order problem, he said.
Meanwhile, around 3,000 workers, including 600 women, of various political parties participated in a human chain in the city seeking exemption to Tamil Nadu from NEET, police said.
"This is nothing but an effort to defame DMK, which with the support of other parties has taken up the students' cause over NEET and is organising the human chain," he alleged.

Yesterday, over 800 DMK workers were arrested from various parts of this district for staging road rokos protesting the desilting of the Katcharayan lake in the Chief Minister's constituency, by farmers owing allegiance to ruling AIADMK (Amma) allegedly using earth-movers.
DMK workers said they had desilted part of the lake and strengthened its bunds together with some farmers.
However, farmers belonging to ruling AIADMK had removed the silt by using earth-movers, resulting in damage to the bunds, they had alleged.
Workers of the rival parties had on July 25 clashed over the issue, forcing the administration to stop the desilting work for a day.