Former Tamil Nadu MLA, AMMK treasurer P Vetrivel dies in Chennai hospital

CHENNAI: Former Tamil Nadu MLA and AMMK treasurer P Vetrivel, who was under intensive care in Chennai’s Sri Ramachandra Hospital after testing positive for Covid-19, died at 6.40pm on Thursday. He was 60. Vetrivel died due to septic shock, hospital said in a bulletin.
Vetrivel was admitted to hospital on October 6. He was moved to ventilator on October 9.
Vetrivel hit the headlines when in 2015 he resigned as R K Nagar MLA to facilitate former chief minister J Jayalalithaa to contest and resume as chief minister.Jayalalithaa had earlier resigned as CM after being convicted by a Bengaluru court in a disproportionate wealth case. She was later acquitted by the Karnataka high court.
After contesting and winning from R K Nagar, Jayalalithaa chose to retain that seat for herself in 2016 assembly polls too. As a result, Vetrivel moved to Perambur and won from there. But, he was later disqualified along with 17 others by Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal for siding with T T V Dhinakaran.
While Dhinakaran won the R K Nagar bypoll, after the death of Jayalalithaa, Vetrivel played a key role in that election, where Dhinakaran managed to defeat both AIADMK and DMK candidates.
But Vetrivel lost the bypoll for Perambur assembly seat, which was held with 22 other assembly seats in April 2019. He remained a confidante of Dhinakaran till his end.
In his condolence message, Dhinakaran said he is unable to come to reality that Vetrivel, who was his general in this political battle against betrayers, is no more. “I used to fondly call him Vetri and the very fact that I will not be able to do that is leaving me shell shocked with grief,” said Dhinakaran.
DMK president M K Stalin expressed shock over the demise of Vetrivel. “When I was the mayor of Chennai, as the leader of the opposition, he brought to the attention the problems and needs of the downtrodden and ensured a solution for the same. As an MLA of R K Nagar and Perambur, he proactively raised issues concerning his constituencies in the assembly,” Stalin said.
“Whichever party he was with, Vetrivel was loyal and was always in the forefront in voicing the concerns of the people,” former TNCC president and Congress MP S Thirunavukkarasar said.