New Delhi: The death of a 37-year-old man at a rally of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief Vijay in Salem on Friday triggered a heated political exchange with rival political parties attacking the organization over crowd safety concerns.The man, Suraj, a Maharashtra native living in Salem, complained of chest pain while waiting at the rally venue and then collapsed and was rushed to a private hospital where doctors declared him dead, the Press Trust reported. Preliminary investigations revealed that Suraj was a heart patient and had previously undergone angioplasty.Police said the incident took place even before Vijay arrived for a meeting of district officials. The death prompted a swift response from political opponents. All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam spokesperson Kovai Sathyan lashed out at TVK in a post on X and said anyone attending TVK rallies in future “will have to bring their own coffin”.The Bharatiya Janata Party also joined the chorus of criticism, with Shabaab leader Vinoj P Selvam claiming that the incident highlighted a lack of concern for cadre safety. “It doesn’t matter if it happens accidentally the first time. But this kind of mistake happens again and again,” he said in a post on X.Ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam also expressed similar concerns. DMK spokesperson A Saravanan questioned how many more lives would be lost ahead of the assembly elections and claimed that arrangements such as shelter and drinking water were inadequate at the rally.However, TVK denied all these accusations and said that the rally was prepared in advance as required. TVK general secretary CTR Nirmal Kumar said, “We are saddened by this. We learned from the family that he suffered a cardiac arrest today. We provided all first aid and sent an ambulance. But unfortunately, he passed away. We are certainly saddened. Our cadre is with the family and supporting them.”“We have permission for 4,998 people but we are allowing less than that. There are more than 30 doctors on site. Several small clinics have also been set up. All ambulances are reserved for emergencies. We have permission from 12 to 3 p.m. After the leader’s speech, we ended the event at 1:10 pm. We are of course very concerned about public safety… There were no other incidents or anything else going on,” he told news agency ANI.Subsequently, a scuffle broke out between TV reporters and officials. Journalists said the cadres tried to attack them while reporting on the incident.However, a source in TVK told PTI that the party had appealed to unwell cadres and members of the public not to attend the meeting, adding that the death was unfortunate and had nothing to do with any scheduling blunder.Earlier, 41 people died in TVK events since the stampede in Karur in September 2025.
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