Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday attempted to corner former Union minister and senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram on the Sterlite protest incident and said he should speak up on the issue as he was a paid director in the copper mining company for many years.
On Tuesday, 11 people were killed and more than 65 others injured as police opened fire against people protesting the construction of a new copper smelter facility by Sterlite in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi district.
Now that the Madras HC is hearing the Sterlite issue, PC should appear for the company because earlier he was a paid Director for Vedanta. Emoluments included payment for evening “entertainment”.
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) May 23, 2018
"P. Chidambaram should answer on Sterlite protest incident; he was a paid director in the company for many years. All documents are available. He should now speak up on behalf of Sterlite," Swamy told reporters.
The local residents are up in arms against the expansion of the copper plant, claiming that the plant would pollute groundwater in their area and cause serious environmental hazards.
The agitation turned violent after protesters were not allowed to march up to the plant. The protesters then began to pelt stones and toppled police vehicles.
Police officials also resorted to lathi-charge and used teargas to disperse the crowd to contain the situation.