Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Taking on Home Minister P Chidambaram, main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday demanded his immediate dismissal from the Union Cabinet for allegedly misusing his powers to quash a forgery case against his former client.
Addressing a press conference here, BJP leader Yashwant Sinha categorically stated that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should immediately expel Chidambaram from the Cabinet.
“The BJP is not asking for Chidambaram’s resignation, but asking the Prime Minister to dismiss the Home Minister with immediate effect,” Sinha said adding, “He is guilty of criminal offence and a criminal can’t be a Home Minister.”
“As the case amounts to injustice to the nation, the Prime Minister should explain the whole episode in both Houses of Parliament,” the BJP leader demanded.
Both houses of Parliament were disrupted today after a report in a national daily alleged that the Home Minister had helped a Delhi hotelier who was his client when he was a practicing lawyer.
The Home Ministry, however, backed Chidambaram saying that it had acted as per the law in this case. BJP members showed copies of the English daily that had published the report on Chidambaram's alleged interest in a legal dispute involving the Delhi-based hotel and its owners.
The report alleged that the Home Ministry had earlier this year directed withdrawal of FIRs against the hotel owner accused of cheating and forgery.
It said that with the specific approval of Chidambaram, the Home Ministry directed the withdrawal of three FIRs against the hotelier SP Gupta.
First Published: Thursday, December 15, 2011, 16:01