The Working President of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MK Stalin has been arrested today, as political parties held a strike across the state in support of farmers.

The parties stated that the loans of the farmers, must be waived off by the government. About 14 lakh shops across the state were shut down in response to a bandh called by the opposition parties. Police said, Stalin along with cadres of the DMK, and other parties, came in a march in Tiruvarur and were confined in a marriage hall, adding they will be let off later. Senior DMK leader and Ex Union Minister, T R Baalu was among those who took part in the agitation in Tiruvarur. The farmers held protest in the same area, by lying across the railway tracks.

In Chennai, farmers leader P Ayyakannu and Tamil Nadu Congress Committee President Su Thirunavukkarasu took part in a demonstration held at Egmore. Ayyakannu staged protest in the national capital for 41 days. In the arterial Anna Salai in the state, the bank employees staged a protest, led by All India Bank Employees Association C H Venkatachalam and Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) leader A Soundararajan. The state secretaries of Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPI-M) and CPI G Ramakrishnan, and R Mutharasan respectively, VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan, and Congress leader KV Thangabalu went in a procession in Saidapet in the state.

Also, a series of protests, including “rail roko”, were held in some parts of the state including Tiruchirappalli, Coimbatore, Madurai and Kanchipuram. In response to the bandh call, shops, local vegetable markets and a section of private establishments were shut down, affecting the normal lives of people. While auto-rickshaws, and a section of private taxi services kept off the roads, the state-government run transport corporations continued their operations as usual. Thousands of police personnel have been positioned in the state to maintain law and order.

The opposition parties including DMK, Congress, CPI (M), CPI, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) apart from the trade unions associated with them, farmer bodies and the film fraternity have pledged support to the shut down. However, both the factions of AIADMK, BJP, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) party, The Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC(M)) are not participating in the procession. A meeting of the opposition parties, on April 16, chaired by Stalin, gave the bandh call.

The bandh is to urge the central and state governments to fulfill the demands of farmers and farm laborers which includes adequate relief and setting up of Cauvery Management Board, said the DMK party.

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