Thaindian News

Chennai, Sep 22 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Thursday said P. Chidambaram should be sacked from the union cabinet over the 2G spectrum scam, while a cautious opposition DMK maintained it was for the home minister to decide on his resignation if found culpable.

“The CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) should act against Chidambaram like it did against Raja,” Jayalalithaa told a news channel here.

Former telecom minister A. Raja of the DMK is currently in jail as the prime accused in the scam.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should drop Chidambaram if he does not resign on his own, the AIADMK chief said, and added that Chidambaram’s involvement was borne out by the union finance ministry’s note to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has not denied but avoided direct comment on the note from his ministry, which said airwaves for telecom could have been auctioned in 2008 if Chidambaram, as the then finance minister, had stood firm.

The note, which was apparently shown to Mukherjee before it was sent to the Prime Minister’s Office March 15, was prepared by a deputy secretary in the finance ministry.

DMK President and former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi told reporters here: “It is for him (Chidambaram) to decide on resignation if he is found guilty.”

However, DMK officials have said the note that has put Chidambaram in a spot vindicates Raja’s stand that allocation of spectrum was a policy decision and not his own.

Releasing the party’s list of candidates for October’s local body elections, Karunanidhi said he would not make any comment on the finance ministry note as he was not aware of the full details.

However, he said the note vindicated Raja, who has been saying that he had kept everyone in the loop - the prime minister and the then finance minister.

The demand for Chidambarm’s ouster also comes in the wake of Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy Wednesday submitting to the Supreme Court documents indicating that Chidambaram, as the then finance minister, was involved in deciding the 2G spectrum price along with Raja.

The documents filed by Swamy included a communication of Jan 30, 2008, by the department of economic affairs of the finance ministry recording the gist of the meeting between Chidambaram and Raja.

A senior party official not wanting to be named told IANS that the telecom regulator did not recommend auction of the spectrum nor did Chidambaram as the then finance minister.

He said it was wrong to keep Raja in jail for following a policy decision.