The police had to use the baton to disperse hundreds of AIADMK cadres who assembled at the Tiruchy collectorate to witness their party chief J. Jayalalithaa filing her nomination on Thursday following a clash with DMK cadres.
Hundreds of AIADMK and DMK cadres had turned up in good numbers at the old collectorate premises, as Ms Jayalalithaa and transport minister K.N. Nehru had come to file their nominations for Srirangam constituency and Tiruchy West constituency. While Ms Jayalalithaa arrived at 11 am and left in 10 minutes, Mr Nehru drove in a little later to file his nomination. The DMK functionaries objected that the police had not permitted DMK functionaries’ vehicles inside, while a few more cars were allowed inside when Ms Jayalalithaa came to file her nomination accompanied by her friend Sasikala.
This led to an argument and the DMK cadres shouted slogans against Ms Jayalalithaa which angered the AIADMK cadres who threw stones at the DMK cadres. The situation turned violent and inspector Ponnusamy got hit in the eye. The police then resorted to lathicharge to disperse the AIADMK cadres.
When asked about the incident Ms Jayalalithaa pleaded ignorance.