Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Thursday demanded the resignation of Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram in the wake of the Madras High Court declining to dismiss the petition challenging his election to the Lok Sabha from Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu in 2009.
The court ordered that the Minister face charges of malpractices levelled by Raja Kannappan (AIADMK) in his June 2009 petition.
At a press conference here, Dr. Swamy said the Minister should step down as he had been found “ prima facie guilty” of these charges. If Mr. Chidambaram did not do so, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should ask him to quit. “However, if that too is not possible then the Prime Minister should resign and mid-term elections be held,” the Janata Party president said.
Accusing Mr. Chidambaram of using “intimidatory tactics,” Dr. Swamy said the AIADMK candidate was forced to lose the election.
The Janata Party chief backed the former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, for the President. He said the President should be untainted, have the capacity to encourage the youth and also be a learned person.
Dr. Swamy met Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh here, but declined to divulge the details of their meeting.
Referring to Team Anna's charge that the Prime Minister knew about the ‘coalgate' scam, he said though there was no monetary transaction, “he [Dr. Singh] could have stopped it.”
He said Team Anna was being soft on UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and was “playing her game to get rid of Dr. Singh.”
