COIMBATORE: Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) Dharapuram bypoll candidate and party state women’s wing coordinator M Karthika on Friday launched a scathing attack on the TVK govt after being released on conditional bail in a case related to the Dharapuram assembly bypoll campaigning. “Power should not be in the hands of clowns. It should go to fighters who stand up for the people,” she said.Karthika and eight other NTK functionaries walked out of Coimbatore Central Prison on Friday morning after a judicial magistrate granted them conditional bail on Thursday.Addressing reporters outside the prison, Karthika alleged that the police had denied the party its democratic right to campaign during the final phase of the bypoll campaign on Oct 4. She claimed that NTK members had planned to campaign at Virachimangalam Pirivu near Dharapuram but were denied permission on security grounds, as chief minister C Joseph Vijay was scheduled to hold a roadshow in the area.“We campaigned only at a place permitted by the police. But a ruling party minister parked his vehicle on our route and campaigned. How is that justified?” she asked.Karthika criticised the govt over its handling of public issues, including the Cauvery water dispute, unemployment and inflation. She alleged that the arrests were aimed at diverting attention from the ruling party’s failures.She described her time in the Coimbatore Central Prison, where freedom fighter V O Chidambaranar had been incarcerated, as a matter of pride. She referred to NTK chief coordinator Seeman’s imprisonment, saying the party would continue to fight for Tamil rights.
