Chennai:
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Thursday demanded that Union Fertiliser Minister and DMK nominee M K Alagiri be sacked in connection with the alleged fertiliser subsidy scam.
"According to reports, the fertiliser companies made a windfall profit of nearly Rs 1,000 crore because of the Fertiliser Ministry headed by DMK chief M Karunanidhi's son M K Alagiri. In the name of subsidy to farmers, government money has been looted and the Central government and the farmers have lost Rs 1,000 crore", she said in a statement.
Ms Jayalalithaa, who misses no opportunity to target her arch rival Mr Karunanidhi's family, demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh drop Mr Alagiri from the ministry and order a CBI probe into the issue and take action against the guilty.
She said Mr Alagiri had failed to act on Minister for Fertiliser Srikant Jena's note alerting him about the irregularities and asking him to prevent the loss of Rs 1,000 crore to the government and the farmers.
Ms Jayalalithaa said she had written to Mr Singh on June 26 seeking a change in the Centre's fertiliser policy, but no action was taken.
"There is a feeling among the people that by not taking any action on her letter and Alagiri not acting on Mr Jena's letter, whether the nutrient based subsidy (NBS) is meant for corruption", Ms Jayalalithaa said.
Questioning Mr Alagiri's silence on the issue, she said the people were wondering whether his "keeping mum amounts to admission (to corruption)".