Cyclone Ockhi: K Palaniswamy assures all fishermen will be rescued, says Centre has promised all help in this regard

Coimbatore: Tamil Nadu chief minister K Palaniswamy on Sunday assured that all fishermen stranded at sea following Cyclone Ochki would be rescued and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised necessary help from the Centre in this regard. Five aircraft, four helicopters and 15 Coast Guard ships were trying to locate and rescue the missing fishermen, he told a public meeting in Coimbatore. Palaniswamy said he had spoken to the prime minister and Home Minister Rajnath Singh and they promised all help to rescue the fishermen. “All steps are being taken expeditiously and the Amma’s (Jayalalithaa’s) government will rescue all the (stranded) fishermen safely,” he said adding that there was no need for any apprehension and the government was a friend of the fishermen. He was addressing the the centenary celebrations of late AIADMK founder and chief minister MG Ramachandran in Coimbatore on Sunday evening. [caption id=“attachment_4238987” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A man watches a road that has been cut off due to floods caused by the cyclone Ockhi, which caused heavy damage in Kanyakumari. PTI[/caption] Hitting out at DMK working chief MK Stalin for “deliberately spreading lies” on the rescue operations, he alleged the main opposition party was falsely claiming that “fishermen are not rescued…it is a false information.” Deputy Chief Minister O Paneerselvam was leading a team of ministers to take stock of the damage caused by the cyclone and also monitor rescue operations, he said. On getting the ’two leaves’ symbol, he said “If we stand united as a party, then not just the RK Nagar bypoll, but we can win all elections in Tamil Nadu.” “Amma’s soul has already punished TTV Dhinakaran (also spelled as Dinakaran) by the EC verdict and the people of RK Nagar will also punish him in the bypoll,” he claimed, referring to the sidelined party leader. He reiterated that the recent death of software engineer Raghupathy in Coimbatore was not caused by an arch put up for Sunday’s function but claimed it was due to a lorry. Raghupathy had died on 25 November after falling off his bike after allegedly hitting a wooden structure erected for the MGR centenary and run over by a heavy vehicle. Criticising erection of arches and banners for the MGR centenary, Stalin had said the state government should take responsibility for the accident. Seeking to turn the tables on Stalin, Palanisamy referred to the decorations made for Tamil ‘Semmozhi’ conference held in Coimbatore during the DMK regime in 2010. A few photographs of the arches and cutouts allegedly put up then were shown on a digital screen on the stage. “When we put up banners they cannot digest, but we have to tolerate, if they do it,” he claimed.