Karti from Sivaganga again

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 24

After dithering for days, the Congress today fielded Karti Chidambaram, the son of former Union Minister P Chidambaram, from the Sivaganga parliamentary seat in Tamil Nadu. His name featured on the party’s ninth list of 10 candidates.

Karti, who was arrested last year, spent nearly 20 days in prison following a CBI probe in an alleged case of corruption. He later got protection from arrest that has been extended from time to time. 

Karti is accused of engineering government clearance for foreign investment worth Rs 300 crore in television firm INX Media and also in the Aircel Maxis deal in exchange for bribe while his father was the Finance Minister.

It’s unclear what weighed on Congress’ mind while approving the candidature of Karti from Sivaganga, considering he had lost the seat in 2014, finishing a distant fourth behind AIADMK, DMK and BJP candidates. P Chidambaram, a seven-time MP from Sivaganga, canvassed aggressively for his son but could not boost his prospects.

The ninth list also names former NCP leader Tariq Anwar as the party candidate from Katihar in Bihar. Anwar recently quit the NCP, which is bound to be riled by his nomination. The NCP had been in touch with the RJD-Congress alliance in Bihar for the Katihar seat. But that has not happened.

Another big name on the list is BK Hariprasad’s. A former AICC general secretary and sitting Rajya Sabha MP, he has been fielded from Bangalore South in Karnataka. The Congress has also fielded Haji Farooq Mir from Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir, which goes to polls in the first phase of elections on April 11.

The list features three candidates from Bihar, four from Maharashtra and one each from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and JK. The Congress has so far declared 228 candidates.