Cong pits Karti Chidambaram against BJP’s H Raja in Sivaganga

The Central election committee of the Congress, on March 24, announced Karti Chidambaram as its candidate for the Sivaganga parliamentary constituency, putting to rest speculation that it was one of the seats party chief Rahul Gandhi was considering for himself.

Chidambaram’s name was cleared in the party’s ninth list of candidates for Lok Sabha polls. With his candidature, the Congress has announced its candidates for all the nine seats it is contesting in Tamil Nadu. Its regional allies will field candidates from the remaining 30 seats.

Chidambaram, son of former finance minister P Chidambaram, had come a distant fourth in the 2014 elections. This year, he would be pitted against the BJP’s H Raja, who stood third in a multi-cornered contest in 2014. Sivaganga is one of the five seats allotted to the BJP as part of its seat-sharing deal with the AIADMK.

Though the Congress had announced candidates for the other eight seats, Sivaganga was kept pending reportedly because of three reasons. One, former Union minister Sudharsana Natchiappan, who won from the constituency in 1999, was demanding the seat for himself. Two, Sivaganga was one of the three seats the party high command was reportedly considering as the second seat for Gandhi. Three, a series of allegations of irregularities in the Airtel-Marxis deal against the Chidambarams was making the party weigh its options carefully. Chidambaram is currently out on bail in the case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Sources in the party said Natchiappan was denied the ticket after the high command pointed out that his nephew Manick Tagore had been fielded from the Virudhunagar constituency. The suspense over Gandhi also ended after the Kerala unit of the party said he is likely to contest from the party bastion Wayanad — a constituency with nearly 60 per cent voters from minority communities.

The decision to field Chidambaram in spite of the ongoing probe against him indicates the party has decided to brazen it out with the BJP.

Till 2014, when Chidambaram lost by a huge margin, Sivaganga was considered a pocket borough of the family. His father had won it seven times before passing on the baton to the son. The Congress is sanguine about its chances this year because of the alliance with the DMK and the perceived anti-incumbency against the ruling party.

But, Chidambaram’s candidature may give the BJP yet another opportunity to attack the party on the national stage as a patron of “dynasties and corruption.”