Kovai Thangam's Fasting
Congress activists led by Valparai MLA Kovai Thangam (second from right), staging a fast in Coimbatore on Tuesday in protest against the removal of three district presidents from their post. Congress workers attempted to self-immolation at the one-day fast observed here on Tuesday by party MLA Kovai Thangam protesting the removal of three district presidents. Blaming the former Union Minister and Nilgiris MP, R. Prabhu, and AICC Secretary in charge of Tamil Nadu Arunkumar for the action, Mr. Thangam had called for a fast.Mr. Kovai Thangam, representing Valparai in the Assembly, and a district secretary, was divested of the post on Sunday. P.V. Mani and Kuniamuthur Arumugam were the other two district secretaries removed. The party leadership dissolved the three district units and appointed A.R. Chinnaiyan and V.M.C. Manokaran as presidents of the Coimbatore urban and rural district Congress committees.
Blaming the former Union Minister and Nilgiris MP, R. Prabhu, and AICC Secretary in charge of Tamil Nadu Arunkumar for the action, Mr. Thangam had called for a fast. The decisions, he said, were aimed at victimising the loyalists. Even as several hundred party workers observed fast, two activists Pon. Anandakumar and Maheswar attempted self-immolation by dousing themselves with kerosene, causing a flutter at the venue. The police personnel, led by Deputy Commissioner of Police S. Rajendran, foiled their attempt and removed them.
Cases have been registered against them under Sections 309 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). MLAs Vidiyal S. Sekhar (Kangeyam), M. Rajasekharan (Thottiyam), C. Gnanasekaran (Vellore), S. Sivaraj (Rishivandhiam), K. Hasan Ali (Ramanathapuram), M.R. Rangarajan (Pattukottai), John Jacob (Killiyoor) and Sundaram (Aattur) spoke. The former Union Minister and leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, S.R. Balasubramanian, offered juice to the protestors and brought the fast to an end.
