The fishermen have alleged that many of them had received no advance warning of the Cyclone Ochki.
Nearly 400 fishermen from Tamil Nadu, who had ventured to sea before Cyclone Ochki hit the coast on November 31, are still missing. And now, the fishing community from the state are furious with the E Palaniswami government, which, they said, had deliberately downplayed the crisis in view of the by-elections in RK Nagar.
For more than a week, the state government had claimed that only a hundred fishermen were missing, though the actual figure was 398. This, the families of missing fishermen claim, did not allow for as intensive a search as was required.
For the last eleven days, Kanyakumari fisherman Britto's wife - a young mother - hasn't heard from her husband. He is among the fishermen missing from the state. "They were married just a year and a half ago. She has a six month old child. Two of my brothers too are missing. We are helpless," Britto's sister-in-law said.
As the crisis unfolded, Mr Palaniswami and his cabinet had been busy campaigning in RK Nagar, the constituency of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, which the ruling AIADMK is determined to retain.
Mr Palaniswami, however, said his government had not been lax in responding to the crisis. "The moment the cyclone was announced, I directed revenue minister Udhayakumar to rush to Kanyakumari and oversee relief and rescue operations," he said.
The matter has provided fuel to the opposition DMK, whose leader MK Stalin said, "Stone hearted EPS has lost the authority to govern as he was campaigning when he ought to be personally monitoring relief and rescue."
The fishermen have also alleged that many of them had received no advance warning of the cyclone -- a claim that has been denied by the meteorological office.
Met officials said they had issued cyclone alerts for fishermen well ahead of time, and siad some had deliberately ignored it and set sail in small boats. Only the deep sea vessels, which were already out in the sea, could not be informed in time, they said.
The families of the missing fishermen demand that the search operation be intensified. After 64 fishermen were rescued today, Mr Palaniswami said the search will be stopped "only after the last fisherman is found".