Expelled AIADMK leader Sengottaiyan joins actor Vijay’s TVK
Chennai (PTI): Expelled AIADMK leader K A Sengottaiyan and his supporters joined actor-politician Vijay-led TVK here on Thursday.
The former minister and senior politician who was hailed as MGR loyalist, arrived in the TVK headquarters at Panaiyur here, and joined the fledgling party in the presence of Vijay along with several supporters, including former AIADMK MP V Sathyabama.
The 77-year-old Sengottaiyan, who is rarely seen sporting a shawl, was presented with a yellow-red TVK shawl by Vijay.
TVK insiders feel that his presence in the party would help to strengthen TVK in the Kongu region, especially eight assembly constituencies in Erode district from where he hails.
The nine-time legislator had resigned from the post of Gobichettipalayam MLA on November 26. He is the second AIADMK MLA after O Panneerselvam supporter P H Manoj Pandian to resign. Manoj Pandian joined the ruling DMK.
He was expelled from the AIADMK by its general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on October 31 after he met and interacted with the expelled leaders O Panneerselvam, T T V Dhinakaran, and the latter’s aunt V K Sasikala in Ramanathapuram, seeking their re-induction into the AIADMK. On November 7, 14 supporters of Sengottaiyan including former MP V Sathyabama, too, were removed from the AIADMK.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
