Throw Chidambaram out of cabinet, BJP tells PM

New Delhi, June 7 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday Asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to sack Home Minister P. Chidambaram after the Madras High Court refused to dismiss a case against him for allegedly manipulating elections in his constituency.

"We appeal to the prime minister to throw him out of the cabinet immediately," BJP president Nitin Gadkari told reporters.

"After manipulating the results of the Lok Sabha polls, and being attached to corruption cases one after the other, I want to ask what more evidence does the prime minister need against him," he said.

Accusing Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi for supporting Chidambaram's "corruption", Gadkari said: "Sonia Gandhi has said again and again that she will not tolerate corruption... Why are Sonia Gandhi and the prime minister tolerating Chidambaram's corruption?

"If he is not ousted, it means Congress supports his corruption and the wrong means adapted by him to come to the Lok Sabha," he said.

The BJP president added that the home minister was also responsible for the 2G spectrum scam and his role needed to be probed.

He added that the minister had lost the moral ground to remain in his post.

Chidambaram was elected to the Lok Sabha from Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu by 3,300 votes against the AIADMK's Raja Kannapan in 2009.

Accusing the minister's supporters of manipulating the votes, Kannapan approached the court.

Chidambaram had requested that the case be quashed. However, the Madras High Court Thursday refused to dismiss the petition.