Ruckus over Chidambaram in Rajya Sabha
Allegations of corruption against union Home Minister P. Chidambaram stalled the Rajya Sabha once again Wednesday with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanding his resignation and the government standing up for him.
The house was adjourned briefly as the Chidambaram issue once again took centrestage. The main opposition party, which has been boycotting the home minister alleging his involvement in the 2G spectrum scam, last week said he should quit over reports that he favoured a former client.
As the home minister replied to questions marked for his ministry in the question hour, opposition members shouted slogans demanding his resignation. Opposition MPs also shouted slogans targeting United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
As BJP members gathered near the presiding officer's podium, members from the treasury benches also joined in to defend the minister.
Amid the din, the upper house was adjourned for nearly 10 minutes till 12 noon.
The upper house resumed its business at 12 noon.
Chidambaram has strongly rejected the BJP's allegation that he had favoured the hotelier, his former client S.P. Gupta, in getting three first information reports filed against him withdrawn, and dismissed suggestions that there was any conflict of interest involved in this.
The case dates to 1999 when owners of the luxury Metropolitan Hotel, Gupta and his company Sunair Hotels were involved in a legal battle with private firm VLS Finance Ltd that claims to have funded the hotel project.
