The police denied permission to the DMK student wing members to stage an agitation near the Rajarathinam Stadium here today, against Minister D Sarath Kumar in the drug-related incident leading to an argument between the two. Over 20 protesters were detained for violating the prohibitory order and they are likely to be released in the evening, an official said.
The DMK members could be heard saying they were protesting to safeguard the youth from the influence of drugs and questioned why the police should prevent an orderly protest.
The agitation was triggered by a video circulating in social media showing Sarath Kumar using a "tablet" when he was watching an IPL match along with his wife and daughter.
Sarath Kumar who was inducted as Human Resources Management Minister last month in the Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay-led newly formed Cabinet, however denied that it was a drug.
He later clarified that he had crushed a tablet to administer it in powdered form to his daughter who became sick during an IPL match. He had explained that it was a medicine meant for his daughter and not a substance as "wrongly claimed" in the social media. It was a two-year old video that was being circulated now, he added.DMDK general secretary Premalatha Vijayakanth flayed the Minister over the viral resurfaced video and said the footage showing him in a controversial light was "highly condemnable. Public representatives should conduct themselves appropriately," she told reporters earlier.
Interestingly, the video had emerged on the day when Chief Minister flagged off an anti-drug marathon aiming to create a drug-free Tamil Nadu on June 26 marking the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
Though Sarath Kumar was not a minister at that time when the incident reportedly happened, since he is a minister now, the public is watching his actions closely and representatives must act with a sense of duty and responsibility, Premalatha, the 57-year-old legislator from Virudhachalam Assembly constituency, had said.
Meanwhile, as the controversy surrounding the white powder-like substance intensified, the TVK has distanced itself from the incident.
