Chennai, Aug 22 (BPNS)

The opposition AIADMK has demanded the resignation of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin over the leakage of the Thoothukudi firing report in which 13 people were killed.

It is to be noted that media had reported the contents of the Justice (Rtd) Aruna Jagadeesan commission report which called for stringent action against some police officers involved in the firing as also the poor administrative capacities of the then Toothukudi district collector, N. Venkatesan.

AIADMK senior leader and former minister, D. Jayakumar in a statement on Sunday called for the resignation of Stalin stating that the leakage of the report was for diverting the attention of people from the failures of the government.

The former minister said that the report was submitted to the government in a sealed cover and added that it was the responsibility of the state government officers to keep it confidential until it was tabled in house.

Jayakumar also called for the arrest of those who were responsible for leaking the report and said that there was no other way for the Chief Minister other than to resign from the post owing moral responsibility.

It may be noted that the previous AIADMK report had constituted the Justice (Rtd) Aruna Jagadeesan commission to probe into the police firing against civilians who were conducting a protest against the Sterlite Copper plant at Toothukudi. The firing which took place on May 23 and May 24 led to the killing of 13 civilians in the police firing. The commission had given its report in May 2022 to the state government and the contents were kept a secret.

However, the contents of the commission were leaked to the media and this has infuriated the AIADMK and the outburst by a senior leader like D. Jayakumar.