Chennai, 3 Oct

Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK has slammed TVK chief Vijay for his alleged "arrogance, hunger for money, publicity mania and the desire for chair," and said his challenge to the state government to arrest him for the stampede was aimed at diverting attention away from the deaths of as many as 41 persons.

The ruling party said Vijay's acting skills, which "failed" long ago in the field of cinema, will not succeed in real life as well.

In its editorial slamming Vijay, the DMK organ 'Murasoli' has said, "the video released by Vijay shows that his arrogance, which is responsible for the killing of 41 persons, and the haughtiness which arose from his hunger for money, publicity mania and the desire for chair has not subsided yet".

After the stampede, in his video message on 30 September, Vijay said the government may do "anything to him," for the stampede but should spare his party men.

Against this background, the DMK said that Vijay was pressured to announce Rs 20 lakh solatium to the families of victims as the CM disbursed Rs 10 lakh each to the kin of those killed.

"Otherwise, Vijay would not have announced it. In case if the CM had announced Rs 1 lakh solatium, Vijay would have announced only Rs 2 lakh as solatium. His fans know this pretty well."

The government has already disbursed the solatium to the families of those who died in the stampede. However, Vijay has not given the assured money to the kin of those who died in the stampede.

Vijay is issuing a challenge, asking the government to arrest him as he was angered that his money was going to be spent on solatium to the families of the victims. By mounting a challenge to arrest him, he is trying to divert the issue of the deaths of 41 persons.

'Murasoli' in its editorial on 2 October said: "His acting failed long ago in cinema and in real life it will not succeed."

Posing a string of questions including one on advancing his visit to Karur to 27 September by scrapping the original scheduled date of 13 December, the DMK asked Vijay to explain the "conspiracy" and slammed him for throwing a challenge to the chief minister who rushed to Karur immediately and met the people and conveyed his condolences to the people and laid wreaths on the bodies of the victims.

The people ask where did Vijay go? And the actor was angered by it, and he in turn targets the chief minister, the DMK claimed.

The actor-politician in his video message neither offered his condolences nor conveyed his sympathies to the bereaved families, the Dravidian party said, targeting him for his alleged "cinematic antics".

Also, he did not apologise, it said. The DMK described the video clip as a "shooting video," underscoring that it was a cinematic output. The TVK chief did not meet the bereaved families and did not even speak to them over the phone.

Alleging that TVK's second rung leaders have gone into "hiding", the ruling party questioned Vijay for reaching the designated campaign spots many hours late. People fainted due to exhaustion in all the places after waiting for hours together, Murasoli alleged.

Considering this, Vijay must have addressed his rallies at the appointed hour, and his party men must have ensured food and water to the waiting people. Without even a little sense of "remorse," Vijay has spoken in that video by making cinematic expressions, the ruling party alleged. "The wails of sorrow of the 41 families have not melted Vijay's heart, the heart of stone," the DMK daily said and slammed him for being allegedly "thick-skinned".