Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Jayalalithaa on Thursday demanded the immediate resignation of Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram over the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
“Or else, the Prime Minister should immediately drop him [Mr. Chidambaram] from the Union Cabinet and the CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation] should proceed against Mr. Chidambaram, as they did against former Union Communications Minister A. Raja,” Ms. Jayalalithaa told a television channel.
In response to a query on the note sent by the Union Finance Ministry to the Prime Minister's Office which indicated that Mr. Chidambaram could have intervened and prevented the 2G spectrum scam, the Chief Minister replied: “It is quite clear that Mr. Chidambaram is deeply involved in the 2G spectrum scam, which, according to the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor-General]'s report, has caused a loss of over Rs.1.76-lakh crore to the Indian exchequer.”
Karunanidhi declines to comment
Meanwhile, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president M. Karunanidhi refused to be drawn into the issue of demand for Mr. Chidambaram's resignation over the 2G spectrum allocation scandal.
To a question on Ms. Jayalalithaa's call for Mr. Chidambaram's resignation, the DMK president told journalists at his party head office that the list of individuals whose resignation has been sought by Ms. Jayalalithaa ever since she entered politics was endless.
Did he feel that there was no wrongdoing on the part of the DMK in the wake of the note on 2G pricing sent by the Union Finance Ministry to the Prime Minister's Office? Mr. Karunanidhi's reply: “As the matter is sub judice, it is not proper to comment.”
To another question whether he would seek the Union Minister's resignation, the DMK president said it was up to him [Mr. Chidambaram] to decide.
To a question on Mr. A. Raja's earlier observations on his role in the allocation issue, Mr. Karunanidhi said that what Mr. Raja had meant was that when the allocation was finalised every time, he had kept the two of them — Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mr. Chidambaram — informed.