Congress keeps suspense over Sivaganga, Chidambaram's stronghold

Chennai, Mar 24: Congress continued to keep suspense over its candidate for Tamil Nadu's Sivaganga Lok Sabha constituency, stronghold of Congress veteran Chidambaram's stronghold.

There were speculations that someone from the Chidambaram family was likely to be given a Congress ticket.

In 2014, Karti Chidambaram, the son of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, fought and lost in Sivaganga.

According to the reports, the saffron party has a rethink on Karti Chidambaram and is likely to announce the candidate today. The candidate would take on BJP's firebrand H Raja.

But few leaders inside the party are reluctant to give him ticket as some state leaders feel it'll backfire since he has cases like Aircel Maxis and INX media against him.

Karti Chidambaram and his father P Chidambaram are two of the 12 named as accused in the chargesheet filed by the CBI in the Aircel-Maxis case.

The Aircel-Maxis case, which arose from the 2G spectrum allocation scam, pertains to FIPB clearances being given to Global Communication Holding Services Limited for investment in Aircel during the time that P Chidambaram was Finance Minister.

The CBI is probing how P Chidambaram, who was the Union finance minister in 2006, granted FIPB approval to a foreign firm, when only the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) was empowered to do it.

The ED had earlier said that the FIPB approval granted in 2006 by Chidambaram was beyond his mandate as he was only authorised to accord approval on project proposals up to Rs 600 crore.