In her maiden visit to the national capital after becoming Tamil Nadu chief minister for the third time, J Jayalalithaa delivered a strong message to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition and demanded the ouster of P Chidambaram from the home ministry.
She demanded P Chidambaram’s resignation for winning his 2009 Lok Sabha election through “fraudulent means”. This was after announcing that she would not meet Sonia Gandhi as long as AIADMK party’s chief opposition, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (DMK), remained a partner in the UPA coalition.
Continuing her attack on the DMK over the 2G telecom scam, Jayalalithaa said Union Textile Minister Dayanidhi Maran — accused of having arm-twisted investors of Aircel cellular company — should step down and if he did not go, “the prime minister should drop him from his Cabinet”.
Soon after meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking various bits of help for her state, Jayalalithaa hit out at Chidambaram, making it clear she is yet to forget old foes.
“Our party has always maintained that Chidambaram’s victory was through fraudulent means. His continuance as a minister is untenable,” Jayalalitha said in a press conference here.
Within minutes of her charges, the Home Minister retorted. Taking a dig at the Tamil Nadu chief minister for her “habit of starting on the wrong foot”, Chidambaram said she knows her candidate Rajakannappan, had filed an election petition in the Madras High Court, pending since September 2009. “Her statement is, therefore, in gross contempt of the court,” he said.
Jayalalithaa’s Delhi visit after her emphatic win in the last Assembly polls of Tamil Nadu saw her making no efforts to patch up old ties with the Congress party. She brushed aside her own earlier offer to support the Congress if it dumps DMK. She had made this offer last year, when the Central Bureau of Investigation’s 2G probe gathered momentum. “That offer was made almost seven months ago. After that, much water has flown under the bridge. The Congress has made it clear that it retains DMK as a partner.”
After her poll victory, Sonia Gandhi had tried to break the ice and had telephoned Jayalalithaa, inviting her to Delhi for a cup of tea. This time when Jayalalithaa came to the capital, the Congress president was abroad but the articulate chief minister had no hesitation in rejecting Gandhi’s invitation today. “As of today, the Congress still has an alliance with the DMK. In such a situation, it would not be proper for me to call on Sonia Gandhi.”
She also repeatedly pointed out that the Congress had not sought her support for the UPA government.
While the DMK-bashing was in her usual style, Jayalalithaa’s sudden attack on Chidambaram came as a surprise to many. “Chidambaram was never elected to Parliament in 2009. He has played a fraud on the nation. Our party candidate won the election,” she said.
Chidambaram, meanwhile, pointed out that AIADMK’s Rajakannappan had also contested the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections last month and had lost the seat that falls under the former’s Lok Sabha constituency, Sivaganga. “Perhaps she would say the election result was also fraudulent,” he said.
Jayalalithaa also didn’t come in support of the Centre over the corruption stir. On Anna Hazare and Ramdev, she said every person had a democratic right to protest against corruption and she refused to give any certificate to the Centre for its anti-corruption initiatives.
