Chennai, Jan 18 (IANS): A fresh controversy has erupted in Salem district with demand over the headquarters of a new district --whether it will be Attur, Mettur, or Edappadi. The previous government of the AIADMK was pushing for Edappadi as the district headquarters whewn K. Palaniswami was the chief minister. But now PMK has said it wants a new district, Mettur.

The Kongu Nadu Makkal Desiya Katchi (KMDK), an ally of the DMK has already passed a resolution demanding Attur as the headquarters of the new district to be carved out of Salem. Attur is 50 km from Salem and claims for Attur as the headquarters have been going on for the past decade until K. Palaniswami became the Chief Minister in 2017 when he called for making Edappadi as the headquarters of the new district.

K. Karthikeyan, Social activist, and Chairman, Salem Peoples Group, a study group based out of Salem told IANS, "The call for Attur as the headquarters for the new district to be carved out from Salem is reasonable. It is difficult to make Edappadi as the district headquarters unless Salem district is trifurcated."

However Kongu Nadu Makkal Desiya Katchi (KMDK) MLA, E.R. Eswaran had submitted a memorandum before the state municipal administration minister, K.N. Nehru about the demand, and the Minister has assured that he would take up the matter with Chief Minister M.K. Stalin.

E.R. Eswaran told IANS, "Attur is a place suited for the headquarters of the new district as it is only 50 km away from Salem district headquarters and is geographically ideal. More than this the people of Attur have been expecting the announcement any time as this has been a major demand for the past decade."

However the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) has put in a demand for carving out Mettur as a new district with sitting MLA from the PMK, S. Sadasivam requesting the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister for the same.

The coalition partners of the PMK, AIADMK, and the BJP are not amused by the suggestion of the PMK and BJP leader R.P. Gopinath while speaking to IANS said, "We don't know as to why PMK has made such a demand but the ideal location if Salem is bifurcated, will be Attur."

AIADMK leader and former Mettur MLA, S. Semmalai while speaking to IANS on Tuesday said, "Attur is the ideal place to headquarter a new district. I don't know why PMK MLA has made a demand for making Mettur as the headquarters of the new district.