New Delhi:
For the second day in a row, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continued to protest against P Chidambaram again in Parliament. This over the Aircel-Maxis deal, in which the Home Minister is alleged to have given "clearance that was not appropriate" as the Finance Minister in 2006.
The BJP had submitted a notice for the suspension of the Question Hour in Rajya Sabha today. In the Lok Sabha, leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj raised the issue of why Home Minister P Chidambaram read out his son's letter in Parliament yesterday. The Lok Sabha has been adjourned till 12 noon.
Yesterday, the BJP demanded the resignation of Mr Chidambaram on this issue, forcing adjournment of both Houses.
The main Opposition party, joined by MPs of the AIADMK, brandished a front-page report published in a local newspaper, which challenged the government's claim that Mr Chidambaram did not delay Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval to the sale of telecom Aircel to Malaysia-based Maxis. The report in The Pioneer claims that "while the actual clearance was given on October 3, 2006, the Government on April 28 claimed that FIPB cleared the Maxis acquisition of Aircel on March 7, 2006."
Mr Chidambaram defended himself by claiming that no member of his family owns any stake in either Aircel or Maxis, the company that bought the telecom venture in 2006.
Last week, Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy, who is a political associate of the BJP and who has sought that Mr Chidambaram be investigated for his alleged role in the telecom scam, made new allegations of corruption against the Union Minister's son.
In a three-page letter dated April 24 to the Prime Minister, Mr Swamy said that Mr Chidambaram should be asked to resign as Home Minister and that the CBI should include him and his son, Karti, in its investigation on the Aircel-Maxis deal.
The CBI is already investigating DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran, the then Telecom Minister, in the case for allegedly misusing his office.