Chennai--At a time when the Aam Aadmi Party’s national leadership is caught in a bitter internal battle, long way away in Tamil Nadu, its state unit has, for the past few days, put the ruling AIADMK on the backfoot.
It were AAP men who had barged into the residence of Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on March 21, seeking to be heard over the suicide of senior agricultural officer Muthukumaraswamy.
The administration had been left red-faced and after the matter refused to die down, police had eventually arrested former minister S S Krishnamoorthy, who was accused of driving the officer to suicide.
AAP men, imprisoned following the episode, have since received expressions of support from both the Prashant Bhushan-Yogendra Yadav and Arvind Kejriwal camps.
The AAP leaders here say they are far removed from the Delhi party row.
“We have enough work here in Tamil Nadu. Although the developments are very sad, maybe these are problems of a political party at a crucial stage of evolution,” says Jayaram Venkatesh.
He is among the most prominent faces of the AAP protest over Muthukumaraswamy, which has emulated its Delhi unit in coming up with eye-catching methods such as wearing masks of the dead engineer.
Venkatesh (33) studied electrical engineering in the US and worked in Los Angeles for five years before returning in 2007 to work with government schools in Chennai. He joined AAP in January 2014. Venkatesh was held in custody for nine days over the forced entry into Panneerselvam’s residence.
Indian Express
