Chennai: The violence and police firing in Thoothukudi that claimed 13 lives rocked the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Tuesday with chief minister K. Palaniswami blaming the DMK, and “some anti-social elements” for the violence and maintaining that the subsequent police action was “unavoidable”. He also asserted that stern action would be taken if the Commission of Inquiry finds that anyone mishandled that situation.
Calling the Government Order for closure of the Sterlite copper plant an ‘eyewash’ and ‘drama’, DMK members staged a walkout, with their leader M.K. Stalin saying the party would boycott the House proceedings “until the chief minister accepts moral responsibility and resigns, and Sterlite is permanently shut.”
Members of DMK’s ally Congress, wearing black badges, sat through the CM’s speech that stretched for over an hour, before walking out saying they did not get the answer they expected from the government. The Congress legislature party leader K.R. Ramasamy pointedly asked if the ‘incidents’ were “right or wrong” and also demanded transfer of the probe into the violence-firing to the CBI.
To this, CM said a Commission of Inquiry, headed by Justice Aruna Jagadeesan, has been set up and based on its findings, “appropriate action will be taken if anyone is found to have committed wrongs.”
Earlier, tabling a report on the Thoothukudi incidents, he said measures like tear gas and baton charge were used against those who indulged in violence.
