Subramanian Swamy tells PM sack Chidambaram or step down

Lucknow - Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy on Thursday demanded Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's resignation for not asking Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram to step down from his post.

"I think Chidambaram should resign, if he does not resign the Prime Minister should resign. The Prime Minister does not even in such a situation have the guts to overrule Sonia Gandhi and ask for Chidambaram's resignation. Then better Mr. Prime Minister, you also resign, that will be the demand in this country," Swamy told media here.

Swamy's demand that the Union Home Minister should be sacked from the UPA Government comes after the Madras High Court declined to dismiss a petition challenging Chidambaram's election to the Lok Sabha in 2009.

"Now, today's new charge against Chidambaram is commission of fraud, coercion, intimidation, handing out money; all these charges against him, 29 of them were filed by the candidate who was forced to lose by a Returning Officer, who got scared of Chidambaram's threats and falsely gave him the winning certificate. Chidambaram has been going on taking adjournment in these cases," said Swamy.

"And now, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has given the order. Chidambaram's last petition was that all the 29 charges are flimsy and they should be struck down. The court examined all 29 charges and said there is prima-facie case, there is prima-facie evidence that Chidambaram has committed all these 29 charges. Therefore, a full trial to find out whether Chidambaram should be sentenced

to go to prison has to be held. That means Chidambaram is now found prima-facie guilty and consequently, the Home Minister of India on a matter of election being found prima-facie guilty of 29 charges," he added.

Swamy also called for  a mid-term poll, saying the ministers in the present  UPA Government are corrupt.

"So, therefore my demand is that you hold a mid-term poll because from top to bottom the ministers are corrupt and frauds. This cannot be cleaned up by touching one or two people and so let there be a mid-term poll," he said.

The Madras High Court (HC) today refused to reject a plea filed by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader RS Raja Kannappan challenging the former's election from the Sivaganga constituency in the May 2009 Lok Sabha elections, making way for the Home Minister's trial.

Kannappan, who narrowly lost to Chidambaram by 3,354 votes, had alleged rigging and "manipulation" of elections, and had filed the petition seeking declaration of the election as void.

He had claimed that votes secured by him in the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th rounds of counting in the Alangudi assembly segment were "ingeniously added to Chidambaram's kitty and vice versa".