BJP says Chidambaram's clarification violates rules

New Delhi, May 11 (IANS) The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday again attacked Home Minister P. Chidambaram, this time for reading out in the Lok Sabha Thursday a clarification from his son on his business interests in telecom operator Aircel, saying it was against the rules.

As the house met for the day Friday morning, BJP members were on their feet raising the issue, with Yashwant Sinha, who had taken up the matter Thursday, leading the charge.

Chidambaram was not in the house when the BJP members raised the matter.

Though Speaker Meira Kumar called for taking up the scheduled question hour, the BJP members did not relent.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, however, refused to respond to the issue, saying the matter did not relate to his ministry.

Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj, supporting Sinha, said the statement of Chidambaram Thursday, when he read out a clarification issued by his son, Karti Chidambaram, was against rules.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal told the house that Chidambaram had made the statement with permission from the speaker.

Bansal said Chidambaram had to make the statement as Sinha made allegations against individuals without prior notice to the speaker. Sinha had alleged that Chidambaram had misused his office as the then finance minister to enable his son to acquire interests in Aircel.

However, the comments from Bansal did not satisfy the BJP members, and Sinha rejected these.

Talking to reporters later, party spokesperson Sayed Shahnawaz Hussain said his party will raise the issue again on Monday.

"I have never seen any MP table his son's statement before. How will it go on the records, in which archive will it be kept? It is a statement from someone who is not a member," Hussain said.

"The government will have to give an explanation," he said.