Oppn AIADMK legislator taken into custody with party activists

: Opposition AIADMK legislator Vayyapuri Manikandan was taken into custody today with around 500 party workers in Muthialpet Assembly constituency here during a road roko agitation to urge government to open the municipal market for the benefit of the merchants and public.
He was elected to Assembly from Muthialpet at the polls held on May 16.
Addressing the agitators before being taken into custody along with his volunteers, Manikandan said the building that had housed the market for the last 60 years had become weak. A new structure was constructed by the government as a result of the agitations by the merchants.

Though construction of the building had been completed, it had not been thrown open to the merchants. Consequently the shop owners, vegetable vendors and grocery merchants were occupying the open air to do business. The public were also facing hardships, he said.
He urged the government to open the building soon to accommodate the merchants to carry on their business.
All those taken to custody were let off later, police said.