SUSPENSE over Karti Chidambaram's candidature: P Chidambaram pushing for son's ticket from Tamil Nadu's Sivaganga, say sources

The Congress high command has announced candidates for nine constituencies out of ten in Tamil Nadu, with the exception being the Sivaganga seat, say sources.

The candidate for the Sivaganga constituency will be announced after the meeting which is going to happen at Delhi between Tamil Nadu Congress Committee leaders and other top Congress head, the sources added.

As reported earlier, Karti Chidambaram has been pushing for Sivaganga constituency and the top leadership is 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. 

But P Chidambaram and other leaders are still trying to get ticket for Karti Chidambaram and the high command couldn't take a decision on the Sivaganga constituency, owing to which only nine candidates have been announced.

As reported earlier, TNCC chief KS Alagiri, along with his team, has been holding meetings with top Congress leaders in Delhi, following which the party is expected to release its candidates list.

The upcoming Lok Sabha polls will commence on April 11, will be held in seven phases, and conclude on May 19 with the counting of votes taking place on May 23.

Tamil Nadu as a state holds the third largest number of seats (39) in the lower house of the parliament. The election in the state will take place in a single phase, which will be held on April 18.

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.

(With inputs from PTI)