P Chidambaram

Congress veteran and former finance minister P Chidambaram on Friday slammed Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi over his "Bill is dead" remark, saying it means "Parliamentary Democracy is dead".Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi on Thursday, while interacting with the civil services aspirants, explained the role of the Governor in the Constitution, saying that he has the option to give assent or withhold a Bill passed by the Assembly, adding that the latter means that the "Bill is dead".In a tweet, Chidambaram said, "Governor, Tamil Nadu has given a strange & peculiar definition to the withholding of assent to Bills passed by the Legislature. He has said that it means the 'Bill is dead'. Actually, when a Governor withholds assent for no valid reason, it means 'Parliamentary Democracy is dead'."The Governor said "withholding" is a "decent language" used for rejecting a Bill.Interacting with the civol services aspirants here, Ravi said the responsibility of the Governor is to protect the ...

Congress leader P Chidambaram hit out at the government on Wednesday after Finance Minister Niramala Sitharaman expressed anguish over the Parliament not having a debate on the Union Budget, saying it's for the first time in Indian parliamentary history that the treasury benches started disruption and forestalled debate. Sitharaman on Tuesday expressed anguish over the Parliament not having a debate on the Union Budget as proceedings in both Houses have been a washout so far and accused the Opposition of resorting to diversionary tactics to distract people's attention from the "success story" of the Indian economy. In a tweet, Chidambaram said, "Hon'ble FM has lamented that there was no debate in Parliament on the Budget. Who was responsible for the Budget being passed without debate?" "It is for the first time in Indian parliamentary history that the Treasury Benches started the din and disruption and forestalled debate," the former finance minister said. In another tweet, ...

Former finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday said his party's leader Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from Lok Sabha would strengthen the Congress party, helping its prospects in next year's general election. Describing the political landscape as an undeclared emergency, Chidambaram in an exclusive emailed interview said the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has made the Congress its prime target wishing its elimination in order to more easily manage the regional parties. However, he asserted that Congress would not be eliminated and regional parties would rise and fight the BJP. Excerpts: Q: In the backdrop of Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from the Lok Sabha after a court judgement in a defamation case, how do you read the country's political landscape? A: The country is already in an emergency-like situation. It is an undeclared emergency. One of the complaints during the emergency was that press freedom was snuffed out. Is it any different today?

Robust political discourse is the essence of democracy and the law ought not to be set in motion to silence leading voices of the Opposition, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said on Friday, a day after Rahul Gandhi was sentenced by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case. The court in Surat sentenced Gandhi to two years jail in the case filed against him over his "Modi surname" remarks. The court also granted him bail and suspended the sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal in a higher court. In a tweet without naming anyone, Chidambaram said, "Robust political discourse is the essence of democracy. The law ought not to be set in motion to silence leading voices of the democratic Opposition." "Noisy appreciation of the 'might' of the law must be tempered by calm introspection on the 'plight' of democratic voices," he said. The Congress has said that the conviction of Gandhi was "erroneous and unsustainable" and will be challenged in a higher court. It has expre

Senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram Friday said the "worst message" from a parliamentary democracy is approval to a budget without discussion. His remarks came a day after the Lok Sabha approved the Union Budget envisaging an expenditure of around Rs 45 lakh crore for the fiscal year starting April 1 without any discussion. "The worst message from a parliamentary democracy is to approve a Budget without discussion," Chidambaram said in a tweet. "Rs 45,03,097 crore will be raised and spent for the 'people' in 2023-24 without the people's representatives offering their views on the Budget," he said. The Lower House of Parliament took up the Demands for Grants and Appropriation Bills after two adjournments as the ruling and opposition MPs' verbal duel over their respective demands for an apology by Rahul Gandhi over his remarks in the UK and a joint parliamentary committee probe into the Adani issue continued. Most of the second leg of the Budget Session

Senior Congress leader and former Union finance minister P Chidambaram Saturday said India is growing but the sequential quarter growth is declining and the economy is "losing steam". He also accused the Narendra Modi government of "neglecting" the poor and the very poor. "The reality is we are growing but the quarter upon quarter growth or the sequential quarter growth is declining -- 13.2 per cent, 6.3 per cent, 4.4 per cent and the fourth quarter, my estimate is, between 4.1 per cent and 4.3 per cent. "So, it is a declining quarterly growth rate, which means the Indian economy is losing steam," Chidambaram said at the India Today Conclave. Asked about India growing faster among the major economies of the world, the former finance minister said, "There is no boast in saying 'I am the one-eyed monarch of the blind'. The point is China, when it grows at 3 per cent or 3.5 per cent, will still add every year to its annual wealth or annual output several times more than India growing

He further slammed the corporates for donating money through electoral bonds to the government

Days ahead of the Congress' crucial plenary session, senior leader P Chidambaram on Monday said half of the CWC members should be elected as per the AICC constitution and batted for younger leaders' inclusion in the party's top decision-making body. In an exclusive interview with PTI, Chidambaram said he has learnt that there are issues about the strength of the electoral college that will elect the Congress Working Committee (CWC) which must be resolved by the party's poll panel. The former Union minister asserted that an objective analysis of the political situation will lead to the conclusion that the Congress has to be the "pole" around which Opposition unity in the 2024 Lok Sabha election can be built. Asked whether he believes that elections to the party's highest decision-making body CWC were essential, Chidambaram said, "My personal view is that one-half of the CWC should be elected as per the Constitution of the party." "However, I learn there are issues about the strength

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday said labelling remarks by George Soros as an 'attempt to topple the democratically elected government in India' was a puerile statement. He wondered if the Modi government was "so feeble" that it can be toppled by a stray statement of a 92-year-old rich foreign national. Chidambaram's statement came after the BJP reacted angrily to remarks made by Soros on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Munich Security conference, alleging that Soros was targeting the Indian democratic system so that people "hand-picked" by him get to run the government here. "The people of India will determine who will be in and who will be out of the government of India. "I did not know that the Modi government was so feeble that it can be toppled by the stray statement of a 92-year-old rich foreign national," Chidambaram said in a series of tweets. He also alleged that the Modi government's policies have created oligopolies instead of ushering in ...

"I did not know that the Modi government was so feeble that it can be toppled by the stray statement of a 92 year old rich foreign national", he said in another tweet

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Friday alleged that low growth, high inflation and unemployment are putting "intolerable burdens" on people, as he asked the government to candidly tell them what are the growth prospects in 2023-24. The former finance minister said, in its January 2023 report on Global Economic Prospects, the World Bank has further downgraded world growth to 1.7 per cent in 2023. "Yet the Government and the RBI continue to say that the Indian economic situation is 'eminently manageable'," Chidambaram said on Twitter. GDP growth has slid from quarter to quarter in 2022-23, the senior Congress leader said, asserting that the government must candidly tell the people what are the growth prospects in 2023-24 "Low growth, high inflation and unemployment are putting intolerable burdens on the people, especially the poor and the middle class," Chidambaram said. The Congress has been accusing the government of mishandling the economy and raising the issue of ...

Senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram on Sunday urged Finance Secretary T V Somanathan to "re-examine his theory" that a housing loan is not a saving. Somanathan, in an interview to The Hindu while talking about the old tax regime, said that if one looks at the structure of the tax deductions, half of them are for savings and half of them are for dis-savings like housing loan or interest on housing loan. "The Finance Secretary asks 'Is the housing loan a saving?' His answer is 'No'. I wonder how many people will agree with the Finance Secretary," Chidambaram said on Twitter. The payment of interest and the installments of the loan is indeed an expenditure, but it is expenditure which is converted into an asset, which is a saving, the former finance minister argued. "Suppose you spend the same money on a holiday or at a race course: there will be no asset at the end," he said. "The Finance Secretary should re-examine his theory that a Housing Loan is not

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday attacked the Centre for discontinuing the Maulana Azad National Fellowship, alleging that the government is on an "overdrive" to make life more difficult for students from minority communities. In a written reply in Lok Sabha earlier this week, Minority Affairs Minister Smriti Irani had said, "As the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) Scheme overlaps with various fellowship schemes for higher education, the government has decided to discontinue the MANF Scheme from 2022-23." In a series of tweets, Chidambaram said, "The government's excuse for scrapping the Maulana Azad National Fellowship and the subsidy for education loans to study abroad to minority students is grossly irrational and arbitrary." Even admitting that there are "overlapping" schemes, is the fellowship and subsidy to minority students the only schemes that overlap with another scheme, the former Union finance minister asked. "MGNREGA overlaps PM KISAN. Old age ..

The ED on Friday said it has attached assets worth more than Rs 6 crore of "beneficiaries" such as Nalini Chidambaram, wife of Congress leader P Chidambaram, former CPM MLA Debendranath Biswas and a company "owned" by former Assam minister, the late Anjan Dutta, in the Saradha money laundering case. A provisional order for attaching movable properties worth Rs 3.3 crore and immovable assets worth Rs 3 crore has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the federal agency said in a statement. These properties were owned by the Saradha Group and other people, who were beneficiaries of "proceeds of crime" generated by the group, it said. The ED said the "beneficiaries" include Nalini Chidambaram, Debabrata Sarkar (an official of the East Bengal Club), Debendranath Biswas (a former IPS officer and ex-CPM MLA) and Anubhuti Printers and Publications "owned" by Dutta, who was a president of the Congress' Assam unit. Nalini Chidambaram's role in the case was allegedl

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Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram Thursday expressed happiness that "eventually Article 21 of the Constitution has triumphed" as Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan walked out of jail after over two years. Article 21 of the Constitution deals with the right to protection of life and personal liberty. Kappan was released from Lucknow district jail Thursday morning, a day after the sureties required for his bail were submitted in court. He and three others were arrested in October 2020 while on their way to Hathras where a Dalit woman died allegedly after being raped. They were accused of trying to instigate violence over the death of the Hathras woman. Reacting to Kappan's release, Chidambaram said, "I am glad that eventually Article 21 of the Constitution has triumphed and Siddique Kappan, the journalist from Kerala, is free." "Trial Court judges must push back on the demand for judicial custody which is really pre-trial incarceration," the former home minister said. Police had

Chidambaram mentioned that both the Capital Expenditure and the Effective Capital Expenditure of the central government is lower than the Budget estimates

Finance minister must find out answers as to why India Inc. is not investing, says Congress leader

"The Hon'ble Chairman's views should warn every Constitution-loving citizen to be alert to the dangers ahead," Chidambaram said