Friday, April 29 2005 13:06 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: The National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) agitation, demanding the ouster of Railway Minister Laloo Prasad from the Union Cabinet, was part of 'a plot' to divide the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and create confusion in the ruling alliance and was unjustified, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), a major partner in the UPA, said in Chennai today (Apr 29, 2005).

Strongly coming down on the NDA's agitation, DMK chief M Karunanidhi, in a statement in Chennai, said that the attempt was to create a wedge between leading constituents of the alliance.

"Is there any precedent of dismissing a Minister from the Cabinet just because a chargesheet had been filed against him? Are there any rules which state that Ministers should quit just because chargesheets are filed against them?" he asked.

If there were such rules, anyone could file a complaint, on the basis of which a chargesheet could be filed and force a Minister to quit office, he said.

The DMK leader said that the Ministers should quit only when the charges were proved and they were convicted. Mere filing of a chargesheet did not provide enough ground to demand their resignation.

He demanded to know whether Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Ministers had resigned after chargesheets were filed against them in the Babri Masjid demolition case. They had then argued that they need not resign just because chargesheets were filed against them.

Though leaders like L K Advani were trying to split UPA, it was not good for an eminent person like A B Vajpayee to encourage such attempts, he said.

"It is totally unacceptable for leaders like Vajpayee to lead a direct attack on democratic norms," he said.