In a rather peculiar demand,the opposition BJP on Wednesday sought the resignation of Home Minister P Chidambaram for Tuesdays police action on its youth wing workers in Delhi. The party stalled Parliament on the issue,and sensing an opportunity to play the nationalist card,asserted that the UPA government had allowed separatist elements to congregate in the Capital while it brutally cracked down on those who raised the issue of corruption. Though the main opposition party stalled both Houses which drew criticism from the CPM with its leader Brinda Karat terming the stalling of Rajya Sabha as a joint operation of the BJP and the government sources said the demand for the resignation or sacking of Chidambaram was mere posturing and the party would allow Parliament to function on Thursday. Chidambaram wanted to give a statement in the House and he conveyed this to Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley and his deputy S S Ahluwalia when Chairman Hamid Ansari met them in his chamber in the morning. But the BJP was not willing to listen to a statement prepared by the Delhi Police,and insisted Chidambaram offer his resignation. During the day,L K Advani told Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee that the orders to break up the BJP Yuva Morcha workers seemed to have come directly from Chidambaram. Though he did not name the Home Minister,Advani said such action could not have been taken without orders from the higher ups. It is learnt that Advani brought to Mukherjees attention reports about the Home Minister telling a section of the media that he did not want another Ayodhya-like incident to back his charge. Swaraj,addressing the media along with Jaitley,demanded the resignation of Chidambaram. We have been demanding his resignation over corruption. Now he is responsible for the police atrocities and we are demanding that he step down. If he is not stepping down,he should be sacked, Swaraj said. Jaitley said while the government ejected Ramdevs supporters and denied permission to Anna Hazare to hold his protest at Jantar Mantar,it had allowed separatist elements of all hues to hold a meeting in the Capital and air secessionist views,which Chidambaram justified as freedom of expression. This government is liberal and lenient towards separatists, he said.
