CHENNAI, April 7: In a development that comes as a rude shock to the AIADMK, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has asked Union Minister for Surface Transport Sedapatti R Muthiah to resign in the wake of charges framed against him in a Special Court in Chennai on Tuesday in the Rs 45.74 lakh disproportionate wealth case.It appears that AIADMK leader J Jayalalitha, whom Vajpayee contacted on Tuesday night, was initially reluctant. But later tonight, she announced that she had asked him to quit.
According to the statement issued on Jayalalitha’s behalf by another AIADMK member in the Union Cabinet, Minister of State for Finance R K Kumar, Muthiah ‘‘will be submitting his resignation to the Prime Minister tomorrow.
The statement said that although Muthiah isn’t guilty in the ‘‘eyes of law and the position is the same before and after framing of charges’’, Jayalalitha had ‘‘instructed’’ him to resign in the interest of ‘‘upholding the highest moral values and principles in public life.
Muthiah will submit his resignation as soon as he returns from Periakulam to Chennai on Wednesday. Jayalalitha has sent word for Muthiah, on a train from Chennai to Periakulam, to rush back to Chennai.
