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CHENNAI: AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa on Saturday demanded to know why the UPA government was interested in continuing the contentious Participatory Note (PN) system in stock exchanges in the country, despite opposition from the RBI, market regulator SEBI, the National Security Advisor and major political parties.

"What is the specific interest of the Dr Manmohan Singh Government in continuing with this contentious system? The finance ministry's attempt to trivialize RBI's views on PNs as contained in the Ashok Lahiri report, which went into the issue, amounts to playing with national security'', she said.

Ms Jayalalithaa said that foreign investors selling stocks aggregating to Rs 18,000 crore in January 23 and 24, 2008, had led to the collapse of stock markets and huge fall in Sensex. "There is no denying the great fall in the third week of January. Who was responsible for this. This question has gone unanswered', she said.

On the finance ministry's statement that there was no evidence with the government or SEBI to support the view that terrorist groups had manipulated the stock markets, she said this totally contradicted NSA M K Narayanan's remarks at an international con ference that instances of terrorist outfits manipulating stock markets to raise funds for their operations had been reported. "Which is right? Is the NSA wrong or the finance ministry?, she asked.

The ministry's clarifications to her earlier questions on the subject sought to conceal more than what it revealed. She reiterated her demand for the resignation of the finance Minister, Mr P Chidambaram for his 'failure' to reply to her charges on the P N issue. If he did not do so, the Prime Minister should dismiss him from the ministry. - PTI

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