Chidambaram faces trial in election petition,rejects BJP’s call to resign

Chidambaram will have to face legally the other 27 charges in the petition. His preliminary objection petition filed in 2010 was dismissed by the court last year,following which the strike-off petition was filed.

Chidambaram’s lawyer T Sathyamurthy said in a statement,“The high court has partially accepted the petition and struck out two crucial paragraphs — paragraphs 4 and 5 of the election petition. These paragraphs contained allegations against the returning officer,other government servants and bank officials and alleged ‘corrupt practices’. These pleadings have now been struck out.”

The development on Thursday morning led to demands for Chidambaram’s resignation from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in Chennai and BJP president Nitin Gadkari in Delhi.

“It would be a blot on the Indian democracy if he continues in the power of home minister now that he is facing criminal charges. Hence,he must resign without any further delay. If he does not step down on his own,the Prime Minister should expel him from the cabinet…,” Jayalalithaa said in a statement.

Gadkari said,“What more evidence does the Prime Minister need? Is this not enough evidence? On moral grounds,Chidambaram has no right to continue in office. He should have resigned earlier. We had boycotted him in Parliament yet the Prime Minister did not take it seriously.”

Chidambaram ruled out resigning from the cabinet in the wake of the court decision. He said he was “astonished by the monumental ignorance” of the leaders making the demand.

“I am astonished by the monumental ignorance displayed by certain political leaders. This is an election petition. There are 111 election petitions filed against members of 15th Lok Sabha,” Chidambaram told PTI.