Chidambaram should resign or PM must drop him: Jayalathithaa

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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Thursday demanded that Home Minister P Chidambaram resign in the wake of the Finance Ministry's note on the 2G spectrum issue or Prime Minister Manmohan Singh drop him from the Cabinet.

"It is quite clear that Mr Chidambaram is deeply involved in the 2G spectrum scam, which according to the CAG's report has caused a loss of over Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the Indian exchequer," she said when asked about the Finance Ministry's note to the PMO that Chidambaram, the then Finance Minister, could have insisted on the spectrum auction.

She said Chidambaram should immediately resign from his post or else the Prime Minister should drop him from the cabinet.

"The CBI should proceed against Chidambaram, as they did against A Raja," Jayalalithaa said.

The AIADMK supremo, however, refused to comment on DMK's claim that the note could help former Telecom Minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi, now in jail on the issue.

"I would not like to comment on that. I will stop with whatever I have said," she said.

In a document submitted before the Supreme Court yesterday, the Finance Ministry had said the Telecom Ministry could have gone in for auction of 2G spectrum licenses had the then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram insisted on this.