Former AIADMK Minister R.S.Raja Kannappan, who had unsuccessfully contested against Union Finance Minister P.Chidambaram in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections from Sivaganga and challenged his election, has denied that he was responsible for delaying the trial and vowed to fight the case till the end.
A day after Chief Minister Jayalalithaa pointed out at an election rally in Karaikudi on March 21 that the case filed against Mr. Chidambaram by the AIADMK candidate was still pending before the court, the Congress leader said the case was being delayed as Mr. Kannappan failed to appear during the hearings after the case reached the trial stage.
Joining issue with the Union Minister, Mr. Kannappan, who was here on Thursday to supervise the arrangements for Ms Jayalalithaa’s March 29 election rally, told reporters that the case had suffered a delay of four months after the judge hearing the case posted the matter to the Madurai Bnch of the Madras High court.
On Mr. Chidambaram’s charge that he had absented himself during the hearings many times, he said he could not appear only once when there was a bereavement in the family.
Now, with the coming back of the judge, the case has reached the crucial stage, he said. Though Mr. Chidambaram’s term was coming to an end, he would fight the case till the end and prove that the Union Minister had won the election by using his 'influence' with the then Collector and 'manipulating' the data entry pertaining to votes polled in the Alangulam Assembly segment. “Justice delayed is justice denied, but in this case I will prove my point that Mr. Chidambaram had won by cheating,” Mr. Kannappan charged.
After he filed the election petition before the High Court, the whole case could have reached its logical end immediately, had Mr. Chidambaram agreed to recounting of votes polled in the Alangulam Assembly segment.
If he was confident of his victory, he would have consented to the recount. Instead he had filed a petition, seeking to dismiss his petition, Mr. Kannappan said.
The court, however, dismissed Mr. Chidambaram's petition, stating that there was prima facie in the charges levelled by the petitioner (Mr. Kannappan) against the Minister, he said, adding Mr Chidambaram should have stepped down.
