P. Chidambaram | |
---|---|
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha | |
Assumed office 10 June 2022 | |
Preceded by | A. Navaneethakrishnan |
Constituency | Tamil Nadu |
In office 5 July 2016 –16 June 2022 | |
Preceded by | Vijay J. Darda |
Succeeded by | Imran Pratapgarhi |
Constituency | Maharashtra |
23rd Union Minister of Home Affairs | |
In office 29 November 2008 –31 July 2012 | |
Prime Minister | Manmohan Singh |
Preceded by | Shivraj Patil |
Succeeded by | Sushilkumar Shinde |
22nd Union Minister of Finance | |
In office 31 July 2012 –26 May 2014 | |
Prime Minister | Manmohan Singh |
Preceded by | Pranab Mukherjee |
Succeeded by | Arun Jaitley |
In office 22 May 2004 –30 November 2008 | |
Prime Minister | Manmohan Singh |
Preceded by | Jaswant Singh |
Succeeded by | Pranab Mukherjee |
In office 1 May 1997 –19 March 1998 | |
Prime Minister | I. K. Gujral |
Preceded by | I. K. Gujral |
Succeeded by | Yashwant Sinha |
In office 1 June 1996 –21 April 1997 | |
Prime Minister | H. D. Deve Gowda |
Preceded by | Jaswant Singh |
Succeeded by | I. K. Gujral |
20th Union Minister of Corporate Affairs | |
In office 1 June 1996 –21 April 1997 | |
Prime Minister | H. D. Deve Gowda |
Preceded by | Jaswant Singh |
Succeeded by | Inder Kumar Gujral |
25th Union Minister of Law and Justice | |
In office 1 June 1996 –29 June 1996 | |
Prime Minister | H. D. Deve Gowda |
Preceded by | Ram Jethmalani |
Succeeded by | Ramakant Khalap |
29th Union Minister of Commerce &Industry | |
In office 10 February 1995 –3 April 1996 | |
Prime Minister | P. V. Narasimha Rao |
Preceded by | Pranab Mukherjee |
Succeeded by | P. V. Narasimha Rao |
Member of Parliament,Lok Sabha | |
In office 17 May 2004 –18 May 2014 | |
Preceded by | E. M. Sudarsana Natchiappan |
Succeeded by | P. R. Senthilnathan |
Constituency | Sivaganga |
In office 31 December 1984 –26 April 1999 | |
Preceded by | R. Swaminathan |
Succeeded by | E. M. Sudarsana Natchiappan |
Constituency | Sivaganga |
Personal details | |
Born | Kandanur,Madras Province,British India (now in Tamil Nadu,India) | 16 September 1945
Political party | Indian National Congress (1972–1996),(2004–present) |
Other political affiliations | Tamil Maanila Congress (1996–2001) Congress Jananayaka Peravai (2001–2004) |
Spouse | Nalini Chidambaram |
Children | Karti Chidambaram (son) |
Alma mater | University of Madras (BSc,LLB) Harvard University (MBA) Loyola College (MA) |
Profession | Senior Advocate Politician |
Palaniappan Chidambaram (born 16 September 1945), [1] better known as P. Chidambaram,is an Indian politician and lawyer who currently serves as Member of Parliament,Rajya Sabha. [2] He served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs from 2017 to 2018. [3] [4] He also served as Interim Deputy Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha from 2022 to 2023 under Mallikarjun Kharge.
Chidambaram has served as the Union Minister of Finance four times. [5] Most recently,he held the role for the entirety of the United Progressive Alliance government from 2004 to 2014,except for a three-year period as Minister of Home Affairs,during which he oversaw India's domestic security response to the 26/11 terrorist attack in Mumbai. Chidambaram returned as Finance Minister in July 2012,succeeding Pranab Mukherjee,who resigned to become the President of India. He was included in Time 100 list in 2013. [6] He was also the head of Congress Manifesto Committee for 2019 Lok Sabha Elections and 2024 Indian General Elections. [7] [8]
Chidambaram was born to Kandanur L. Ct. L. Palaniappa Chettiar and Lakshmi Achi at Kanadukathan in the Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu. His maternal grandfather was Raja Sir Annamalai Chettiar,a wealthy merchant and banker from Chettinad. [9]
Chidambaram did his schooling at the Madras Christian College Higher Secondary School,Chennai. [10] He then passed the one-year Pre-university course from Loyola College,Chennai. After graduating with a BSc degree in Statistics from the Presidency College,Chennai,he completed his Bachelor of Laws from the Madras Law College (Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College) and his MBA from Harvard Business School in the class of 1968. He also holds a Master's degree from Loyola College,Chennai. [11]
During this time,his politics inclined to the left and in 1969 he joined N. Ram,later an editor of The Hindu ,and the women's activist Mythili Sivaraman in starting a journal called the Radical Review. [12]
Chidambaram has two brothers and one sister. [1] His father's business interests covered textiles,trading and plantations in India. He chose to concentrate on his legal practice and stayed away from the family business. [13]
Chidambaram enrolled as a lawyer in the Madras High Court,becoming a senior advocate in 1984. He had offices in Delhi and Chennai and practiced in the Supreme Court and various high courts of India.
Chidambaram was elected to the Lok Sabha (lower house) of the Indian Parliament from the Sivaganga constituency of Tamil Nadu in general elections held in 1984. He was a union leader for MRF and worked his way up in the Congress party. He was the Tamil Nadu Youth Congress president and then the general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Pradesh Congress Committee unit. He was inducted into the Union (Indian federal) Council of Ministers in the government headed by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on 21 September 1985 as a Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Commerce and then in the Ministry of Personnel. His main actions during his tenure in this period was to control the price of tea and he has been criticized by the Government of Sri Lanka for destroying the Sri Lankan tea trade by fixing the prices of the commodity in India using state power. He was elevated to the rank of Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel,Public Grievances and Pensions in January 1986. In October of the same year,he was appointed to the Ministry of Home Affairs as Minister of State for Internal Security. He continued to hold both offices until general elections were called in 1989. The Indian National Congress government was defeated in the general elections of 1989.
In June 1991,Chidambaram was inducted as a Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Commerce,by the then Prime Minister Mr P V Narasimha Rao;a post he held till July 1992. He was later re-appointed Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Commerce in February 1995 and held the post until April 1996. He made some radical changes in India's export-import (EXIM) policy,while at the Ministry of Commerce. [14] [15]
In 1996,Chidambaram quit the Congress party and joined a breakaway faction of the Tamil Nadu state unit of the Congress party called the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC). In the general elections held in 1996,TMC along with a few national and regional level opposition parties,formed a coalition government. The coalition government came as a big break for Chidambaram,who was given the key cabinet portfolio of Finance. His 1997 budget is still remembered as the dream budget [16] for the Indian economy. The coalition government was a short-lived one (it fell in 1998),but he was reappointed to the same portfolio in the government formed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2004.
In 1998,the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took the reins of the government for the first time and it was not until May 2004 that Chidambaram would be back in government. Chidambaram became Minister of Finance again in the Congress party led United Progressive Alliance government on 24 May 2004. During the intervening period Chidambaram made some experiments in his political career,leaving the TMC in 2001 and forming his own party,the Congress Jananayaka Peravai,largely focused on the regional politics of Tamil Nadu. The party failed to take off into mainstream Tamil Nadu or national politics. After the elections of 2004,when the Congress won the election he was inducted into the Council of Ministers under the new Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as cabinet Minister of Finance and he merged his party with the mainstream Congress party. [17]
On 30 November 2008,he was appointed the Union Home Minister following the resignation of Shivraj Patil who had come under intense pressure to tender his resignation following a series of terror attacks in India,including the Mumbai attacks on 26 November 2008.
He has been credited with taking the bold decision of prioritising elections above corporate demands to deploy security for the 2009 Indian Premier League. [18]
In 2009,Chidambaram was re-elected from the Sivaganga Lok Sabha constituency in the Congress and retained the Home ministry. [19] He was one of the representatives of the central government when a tri-party agreement was signed with the Gorkha Hill Council and the Government of West Bengal,an agreement which was a result of Mamata Banerjee's effort to end a decade long unrest in the hills of Darjeeling. [20]
The Indian National Congress appointed P. Chidambaram as one of thirteen senior spokespersons on 15 September 2014. [21] He ceded his seat to his son Karti in 2014,which resulted in electoral defeat for his son. [22] [23] [24] [25] In 2016,he was elected as an MP of the Rajya Sabha,the upper house of Indian parliament from the state of Maharashtra.
Elections | Constituency | Party | Result | Vote percentage | Opposition Candidate | Opposition Party | Opposition vote percentage |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1984 Indian general election | Sivaganga | INC | Won | 68.10 | Tha. Kiruttinan | DMK | 51.60 |
1989 Indian general election | Sivaganga | INC | Won | 65.86 | A. Ganesan | DMK | 32.26 |
1991 Indian general election | Sivaganga | INC | Won | 67.49 | V. Kasinathan | DMK | 29.12 |
1996 Indian general election | Sivaganga | TMC(M) | Won | 64.79 | M. Gowri Shankaran | INC | 26.53 |
1998 Indian general election | Sivaganga | TMC(M) | Won | 51.15 | K. Kalimuthu | AIADMK | 41.19 |
1999 Indian general election | Sivaganga | TMC(M) | Lost | 20.85 | E. M. Sudarsana Natchiappan | INC | 40.23 |
2004 Indian general election | Sivaganga | INC | Won | 60.01 | S. P. Karuppiah | AIADMK | 35.62 |
2009 Indian general election | Sivaganga | INC | Won | 43.17 | Raja Kannappan | AIADMK | 42.74 |
Chidambaram's mother,Lakshmi Acchi,was the daughter of Sir Annamalai Chettiar,a banker and merchant,and was granted the title of Raja by British. Annamalai Chettiar was the founder of Annamalai University and United India Insurance Company Limited. His brother,Ramaswami Chettiar,was the founder of the Indian Bank and the co-founder of another major bank,the Indian Overseas Bank. [27] [28] [29] [30] [31]
He is married to Nalini Chidambaram,daughter of Justice (Retd.) Palapatti Sadaya Goundar Kailasam,of the Supreme Court,and Mrs. Soundra Kailasam,a renowned Tamil poet and author. Nalini Chidambaram is a senior advocate practising in the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court of India. He has a son,Karti P. Chidambaram,who graduated with a BBA degree from the University of Texas,Austin,and a Masters in Law from the University of Cambridge. Karti,a member of the Congress Party's AICC,is active in Tamil Nadu state politics. Karti is married to Dr. Srinidhi Rangarajan,a well-known Bharathanatyam dancer and medical doctor,working with the Apollo Group of Hospitals in Chennai. Karti and Srinidhi have a daughter,Aditi Nalini Chidambaram.
He suffers from a medical condition referred to as Crohn's disease. [32]
The Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme (VDIS) 1997, which he announced when he was Finance Minister with the United Front government, was condemned by the Controller and Auditor General of India as abusive because of the loopholes that made it possible to fudge data to the financial advantage of the confessor. [33]
Chidambaram was criticised for his ministry's failure to prevent the 2011 Mumbai bombings, despite massive investments in security following the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Three years after the 2008 attacks, security preparations were proven to be inadequate with channel breakdown and failures in modernising, procuring, and installing security equipment. [34] Chidambaram defended the agencies under his ministry against the charge of intelligence failure with the response which was later ridiculed by many people in India and its media:
Having no intelligence in this case, however, does not mean that there was a failure on part of the intelligence agencies. [35] There has been no intelligence failure. There was no intelligence warning about 13/7. [36]
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa wrote to the Chief Election Commissioner in 2011 that data entry operators at Sivaganga had transferred 3,400 votes polled by Kannappan from 11 polling stations in Chidambaram's favour. News reports suggest that on May 16, 2009, the AIADMK candidate Raja Kannappan was declared elected by 3555 votes at 12.30 pm, and the news was also broadcast on television. But in a dramatic reversal a few hours later, P Chidambaram was declared elected by 3354 votes at 4.30 pm, and was confirmed as the winner after a recount at 8.30 pm. [37]
On 7 April 2009, Chidambaram was assaulted by Sikh journalist Jarnail Singh during a press conference in Delhi on the issue of a "clean chit" to Jagdish Tytler. Singh, who writes for the Hindi daily newspaper Dainik Jagaran was dissatisfied with Chidamabaram's answer to a question on the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) "clean chit" regarding Jagdish Tytler's involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. It was the first shoe throwing incident in India. [38] [39]
Chidambaram was part of Vedanta's legal team and on its board before becoming finance minister in 2004 [42]. [40] In 2002, a year before UK's Financial Services Authority allowed Sterlite to reconstitute itself as Vedanta Resources Plc, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) served a show-cause notice on three of Chairman Anil Agarwal's family. The notice was a demand that Sterlite directors answer allegations about using their holding companies-Volcan and Twinstar-to avoid paying taxes on forex transactions. It was a polite way of saying there was prima facie evidence, dating back to 1993, that the Agarwals were guilty of money laundering. For seven years the case dragged on in courts as Sterlite employed top lawyers to use every possible delaying tactic. P. Chidambaram argued in Sterlite's defence in a 2003 Bombay High Court case related to the ED's allegations. The following year, Chidambaram found himself appointed non-executive director on the board of Vedanta Resources Plc. And very soon, he became finance minister in UPA 1.
Former Union Minister and Senior Advocate Ram Jethmalani's letter to Chidambaram on 6 December 2013 accused him of acting in collusion with the NDTV and laundering Rs 5000 crores of money through Mauritius route back to India. [41]
In 2006, political leader Dr. Subramanian Swamy alleged that a company controlled by Karti Chidambaram, the son of Minister of Finance P. Chidambaram, received a five-percent share of Aircel to get part of ₹40 billion paid by Maxis Communications for the 74-percent share of Aircel. According to Swamy, Chidambaram withheld Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance of the deal until his son received the five-percent share in Siva's company. [42] The issue was raised a number of times in Parliament by the opposition, which demanded Chidambaram's resignation. [43] Although Chidambaram and the then ruling Congress government denied the allegations, [44] The Pioneer and India Today reported the existence of documents showing that Chidambaram delayed approval of the foreign direct investment proposal by about seven months. [42] [45] [46] It was alleged that Chidambaram's son, Karti was a direct beneficiary of the 2G spectrum case. His company, Advantage Strategic Consulting had a five per cent stake in Aircel Televentures, even as his father P Chidambaram, as Finance minister, was alleged to have offered FIPB clearance for the Aircel-Maxis deal only if his son's company, Advantage Strategic Consulting, got shares in Aircel Ventures. [47] The Enforcement Directorate is currently investigating his involvement in Aircel deal. [48] In 2012, and, subsequently, in 2016, information of wide-scale corruption by Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram and Robert Vadra, with the help of his father's position, including through the Airtel–Maxis deal and the Uttar Pradesh NRHM scam, was unveiled in prominent newspapers and media in India. [49] Simultaneously, Chidambaram and his son Karti have been dogged with allegations of corruption, misuse of position, insider trading and money laundering.
On 20 August 2019, the Delhi High Court dismissed both anticipatory bail pleas of Chidambaram in connection with corruption charges in the INX Media case during his tenure as Finance minister in UPA Government. [49] [50] [33] [51] On 21 August, he appeared at the Congress HQ and addressed a press conference stating that he was "not accused"; however, he left the place, and, later, he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate at his home. [52] [53] [54] On 5 September 2019, Supreme Court dismissed his appeal against rejection of anticipatory bail plea by Delhi High Court. The Special Court ordered Chidambaram to stay in judicial custody in Tihar Jail for 14 days. On 4 December he was granted bail by the supreme court. [55]
Chidambaram is a published author of several books.
Karaikudi is the largest city in Sivaganga district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Karaikudi Urban Agglomoration is the 21st largest urban area of Tamil Nadu based on 2011 census data. It is part of the area commonly referred to as "Chettinad" and has been declared a City Municipal Corporation by the Government of Tamil Nadu, on account of the palatial houses built with limestone called Kaarai veedu. For this reason, the place is sometimes called Kaarai Nagar locally. The newly formed Karaikudi Municipal Corporation spreads about 94.31 km2 (36.41 sq mi) which undergoes major developments as part of Government Schemes.
Chettinad is a name that collectively refers to a locality that comprises 56 villages in the Sivaganga district and 20 villages in Pudukottai district, which was historically ruled by the Ramnad kingdom of Pandya Nadu. It has a small portion extending into the Pudukottai District in Tamil Nadu; Karaikudi is the major town of this area and is considered the urban center for the Chettinadu villages.
Sivaganga is a City and headquarters of the Sivaganga district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is known for the 16th-century Sivagangai Fort, located in City Centre. Inside the fort, the Rajarajeshwari Amman Temple features many ornate sculptures. Nearby, the Government Museum has prehistoric relics and natural history displays. There are many famous places like historical monuments, Historical temples and lands donated by King Muthuvaduganatha Thevar and other many temples been built and maintained by King Maruthpandiyar brothers, Princess Velunachiyar which are still available and maintained in good condition by public and authorities. The City is located at a distance of 48 km (30 mi) from Madurai and 449 km (279 mi) from the state capital Chennai.
Sir Alagappa Chettiar was an Indian businessman and philanthropist. He received the Padma Bhushan, third highest civilian award of India in 1956.
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Diwan Bahadur Sir Satappa Ramanatha Muthiah Annamalai Chettiar, Raja of ChettinadKCSI better known as Raja Sir Annamalai Chettiar was an Indian industrialist, banker, educationist and philanthropist from Tamil Nadu. He was the founder of Annamalai University in Chidambaram and one of the founders of Indian Bank, along with his brother S. Rm. M. Ramaswami Chettiar.
Muthiah Annamalai Chidambaram was an Indian industrialist and cricket administrator. He was the youngest son of Raja Sir Annamalai Chettiar, Raja of Chettinad.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) was a national agency of Government of India, with the remit to consider and recommend foreign direct investment (FDI) which does not come under the automatic route. India attract net inward foreign direct investment amounting to USD 30.76 billion during the fiscal year ended March 2014, a 14.13% increase compared to the previous fiscal year. acted as a single window clearance for proposals on foreign direct investment (FDI) in India. The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) was housed in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance. FIPB was abolished on 24 May 2017, as announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley during 2017-2018 budget speech in Lok Sabha.
Sivaganga Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 39 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in Tamil Nadu, a state in southern India. Its Tamil Nadu Parliamentary Constituency number is 31.
Karaikudi is a state assembly constituency in Sivaganga district in Tamil Nadu. Most successful party: INC. It is one of the 234 State Legislative Assembly Constituencies in Tamil Nadu in India.
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R. S. Raja Kannappan, formerly known as S. Kannappan, is an Indian politician and Minister for Backward Classes Welfare and Higher Education. He also served as the Minister for Khadi and Village Industries from 2022 to 2023, Minister of Transport, Nationalised Transport, Motor Vehicles Act in the period 2021- March 2022 and also former Minister of Public Works, Highways and Electricity during 1991–1996. He joined the party DMK in February 2020.
Sir Muthiah Annamalai Muthiah Chettiar, Rajah of Chettinad KCSI better known as RajahSir Muthiah Chettiar was an Indian Industrialist, banker, politician, philanthropist, and cultural activist who served as First Mayor of Madras city (1933) and Minister of Excise and Education (1936–37) in the provincial government of Madras Presidency.
The 2G spectrum case was a political controversy in which politicians and private officials of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition government India were allegedly involved in selling or allotting 122 2G spectrum licenses on conditions that provided an advantage to specific telecom operators. A. Raja, then Telecom Minister, was accused of selling 2G spectrum licenses at a very low cost which resulted in the loss of ₹1,760 billion in government revenue. Raja was also accused of not following rules and regulations as well as not recognizing any advice from the Ministries of Finance and Law and Justice of India while allotting 2G spectrum licenses to telecom operators. Series of allegations were made on allotting 2G spectrum licenses including allegations from Central Bureau of Investigation after investigating the case alleging Raja for intentionally advancing the cut-off date to favour some specific firms, which were allegedly ineligible for applying for telecom licenses, in return for bribes.
Annamalai Chidambaram Muthiah is an Indian industrialist and cricket administrator. He served as the Chairman of Southern Petrochemical Industries Limited (SPIC) and is the chairman of Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering (SVCE), Sriperumbudur near Chennai. He served as the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India from 1999 to 2001. Muthiah is the only son of M. A. Chidambaram and the grandson of Sir Annamalai Chettiar.
The S. Rm. family is an Indian family of businessmen, industrialists and bankers from the town of Kanadukathan in the Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu, India. The family is named after its ancestor, the popular 19th-century Nagarathar banker S. Rm. Muthiah Chettiar. The head of the family holds the honorific title Raja of Chettinad. The M. Ct. family has descended from one branch of the S. Rm. family.
P. R. Senthilnathan is a politician from Tamil Nadu. He was born in Nagadi village in the Sivaganga district. He studied at Sevugan Annamalai college in Devakottai. After finishing his B.Sc. he went to Bengaluru to study for an LL.B. degree in Bengaluru University. He started out as a lawyer and became well known for his good skills. He entered politics in 1988 by joining AIADMK. He made a small beginning in the party as its Nagadi branch secretary in 1992 and served as district secretary of Amma Peravai between 2007 and 2013. He was appointed Sivaganga district secretary of AIADMK in April 2013, and Chairman of Tamil Nadu Backward Classes and economic development corporation in June 2013.
Hariharan Raja Sharma also known as H. Raja is an Indian politician. He started his political-social life as an Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) promoter. He was a MLA representing the Karaikudi constituency in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from 2001 to 2006. He was one of the national secretaries of the Bharatiya Janata Party from 2014 to 2020.
Karti Chidambaram is an Indian politician, businessman and lawyer. A member of the Indian National Congress, he serves as the Member of Parliament for Sivaganga in the Lok Sabha. He was elected in the 2019 Indian general election and 2024 Indian general election, winning the seat held seven times by his father, P. Chidambaram.
K S Alagiri is an Indian politician representing the party Indian National Congress. He was the president of Tamil Nadu Congress party from 2019 to 2024. and an ex-member of the Parliament of India from Cuddalore Constituency. Previously, he was elected to the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly as an Indian National Congress candidate from Chidambaram constituency in 1991 election, and as a Tamil Maanila Congress candidate in 1996 election.
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