Chidambaram: The controversy's child
New Delhi, Aug 21 (IANS) The 73-year-old Congress leader and former Union minister Palaniappan Chidambaram is facing the toughest crisis of his career. The lawyer-turned-politician has been slapped with money laundering and corruption charges in the INX Media case and is in the CBI custody following the Delhi High Court’s refusal to grant him anticipatory bail on Tuesday.
In May 2017, the Central Bureau of Investigation registered an FIR for alleged discrepancy in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board’s (FIPB) clearance given to the INX group in 2007. Chidambaram was Finance Minister at that time.
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND) under the Finance Ministry had raised queries over foreign direct investment of over Rs 305 crore made by three Mauritius-based companies in INX Media Pvt Ltd, then owned by Peter Mukherjea and his wife Indrani Mukerjea.
The rise of Chidambaram
Chidambaram, who has a degree in law and an MBA from Harvard Business School, joined the Congress in 1984 and contested and won Lok Sabha elections from Sivaganga around the same time. He had been associated with several ministries including that of commerce and industry, mostly as junior minister till mid-1990s. In 1996, Chidambaram quit the Congress for a brief period to join Tamil Maanila Congress — a breakaway faction of the state Congress unit.
Despite being part of a weak coalition government, Chidambaram introduced bold reforms including drastic reduction of personal and corporate tax rates in the 1997 Budget. Soon after, he rejoined the Congress.
His spectacular rise in politics started only in 2004. He was given the important portfolio of finance in the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government. As Finance Minister, he had to deal with the Left parties, which provided outside support to the government and many of his proposals, aimed at expanding private sector participation to boost growth of the Indian economy, did not see the light of day.
While economists and policy makers criticised this move, he managed to impress the top echelon of the Congress party. In November 2008, Chidambaram—already touted as an achiever by his party men—was entrusted with home ministry.
Chidambaram was caught in the middle of a controversy when news reports suggested that he had manipulated the voting process to win the 2009 Lok Sabha election from Sivaganga. AIADMK candidate Raja Kannappan was declared elected by over 3,500 votes initially on May 16, 2009 but within hours Chidambaram’s fate turned, and he was declared elected by 3,354 votes.
As Home Minister, he had a tougher job at hand. His tenure was laced with criticism, especially on issues relating to security. In 2011, when he was in charge of the Home Ministry, three co-ordinated bomb explosions ripped Mumbai killing many. These blasts took place barely three years after the horrific terror attacks in two of Mumbai’s premier hotels.
In August 2012 Chidambaram was removed from the Home Ministry, and he once again resumed charge as Finance Minister. He is also often blamed for forcing the public sector banks to expand their credit portfolio in a reckless manner—something that has led to the alarming rise in the non performing asset levels in the government banks.
Interestingly, in 2010, the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested BJP leader and Home Minister Amit Shah in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. Shah was also sent to jail.
–IANS
muv/prs
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