TNI Bureau: The BJP and AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa attacked the UPA government seeking the removal of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram from his post after the Madras High Court refused to dismiss a case against him.

The court on Thursday refused to reject a petition by the AIADMK’s Raja Kannapan alleging that Chidambaram had manipulated the votes in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. Chidambaram had won his Sivaganga Lok Sabha seat by a very slender margin of 3300 votes.

Following the court’s verdict, the BJP attacked the Home Minister saying he should quit. BJP president Nitin Gadkari appealed to the Prime Minister to remove him from the cabinet. He said that Chidambaram lost his moral right to be on the post. He should have resigned much earlier, he said.

He said that the BJP has documents that prove that Chidambaram was involved in the 2G scam. “Why is Sonia Gandhi protecting him? Why is the Congress tolerating his corruption? Soniaji had said she will not tolerate corruption. I want to remind her about this. The country wants an explanation,” Gadkari said.

Backing Gadkari, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa also sought Chidambaram’s removal. If Mr Chidambaram did not quit now, he should be removed from his post, she said.

However, the court removed two of the 29 allegations against him. Even though the major charge of corrupt practices has been removed against him, he will face trial.