In what has become an episode of mass detention, several senior ADMK leaders including O Panneerselvam, SP Velumani, and KP Munusamy were arrested and detained by the Chennai police on Tuesday after they staged a demonstration outside the assembly premises to protest against the bill that was introduced by the ruling DMK regime to annex the Jayalalithaa University with the Annamalai University. The leaders had held dharna on the road which disrupted the movements of vehicles following which they were detained by the Chennai police. 

The visuals from the spot had shown that the leaders were boarded on a police van as the cops remove them from the road. While most of the senior leaders were arrested and detained in Chennai, another senior leader CV Shanmugam, who was the former minister, had got arrested in Villupuram for staging protests against the bill near the Villupuram bus station. According to reports, the ongoing budget session was resumed on Tuesday and the legislators had debated over the allocation of funds to the key departments including revenue, disaster management, and industries. 

After the debate, the DMK government has tabled the bill in the assembly that aims to amalgamate Jayalalithaa University with the Annamalai University. When the bill was tabled by Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi, the ADMK legislators had opposed the bill and boycotted the assembly session by voicing against the DMK government. After walking out from the session, that has been hosted by Kalaivanar Arangham, the ADMK leaders had held a dharna before the hall by blocking the traffic. Hundreds of police officers were stationed at the spot and the ADMK leaders had raised slogans against the ruling government and the bill.

The ADMK leaders, led by O Panneerselvam, had kept their demonstration against the government despite the pleas from the police to vacate the road as the traffic has been disrupted. Later, as the leaders occupied the road and continued their dharna, the police had detained all of them from the spot and put them inside a police van. ADMK leaders O Panneerselvam, SP Velumani, Thangamani, Manoj Pandian, KP Munusamy, RB Udhayakumar, Vaithilingam, and Kadambur Raju were arrested and detained under police custody. The leaders were taken to a nearby marriage hall and the reports say that such detentions won't attract any criminal charges and they will most likely be released by Tuesday evening. 

Former ADMK Minister CV Shanmugam had also got arrested in Villupuram for staging dharna near the Villupuram bus station with the dozens of ADMK cadres against the bill proposed by the DMK to annex Jayalalithaa University with Annamalai University. During the previous ADMK regime, the Tamil Nadu assembly had passed the Dr J Jayalalithaa University Bill 2021 in February this year to establish a new university. The bill was proposed based on the announcement by the then Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami last year that Thiruvalluvar University would be bifurcated and a new University under the name of Jayalalithaa would be established in Villupuram.

The ADMK government had passed the bill to begin the functioning of the University from this academic year and it was reported that the colleges in Villupuram, Kallakurichi, and Cuddalore will be disaffiliated from Thiruvalluvar University and transferred to Jayalalithaa University. After the change of power in the state, the DMK had begun the efforts to annex the Jayalalithaa University with the Annamalai University and the ADMK has been opposing the efforts and the party had held a dharna in Chennai against tabling the bill of annexation. It must be noted that the previous ADMK regime had also named the Tamil Nadu Fisheries University, which was established in 2012, after Jayalalithaa in 2017 after her demise.