Local body polls in 8 months: Aadhav

Chennai: Local body elections will be held in eight months, public works department minister Aadhav Arjuna has said, challenging DMK to “win even a single mayoral post in the upcoming local body elections”.

Aadhav, while addressing a public meeting at RK Nagar on Friday night, said TVK had taken on the challenge after Chennai mayor R Priya humiliated TVK’s Thiru Vi Ka Nagar MLA Pallavi at the reopening of a corporation school.

A video of Pallavi being denied the opportunity to participate at the ceremonial lighting of the lamp went viral on Thursday. He accused the mayor of violating protocol and disrespecting the legislator. “From the moment our sister Pallavi was humiliated, we started preparing for the local body elections,” he said.

Referring to Pallavi’s electoral victory, Aadhav said she had overcome significant challenges, including contesting while being pregnant, and described the recent episode as an insult “not just to a legislator, but to women in public life”.

Launching an attack on Udhayanidhi Stalin and the DMK leadership, Aadhav challenged the party to retain even one mayoral post in the state. “If the DMK has the courage it claims to possess, let it win at least one mayor’s seat. If it succeeds, I will accept that the party remains unbeatable,” he said.

The minister said the treatment meted out to Pallavi reflected the “arrogance of power” of DMK and accused the party of failing to respect women leaders from rival parties.

The TVK leader accused the DMK of deliberately obstructing development work in constituencies represented by TVK legislators through local bodies controlled by the ruling party.

“The mayors, municipal presidents and panchayat heads prevent TVK MLAs from performing their duties, disrupt garbage collection, water supply and electricity distribution to create a bad image of the chief minister and the TVK govt. They do not allow the administration to function. Their run will come to an end soon,” he said.