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P. Chidambaram

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In this Indian name, the name Palaniappan is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Chidambaram.
P Chidambaram
Minister of Home Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office
30 November 2008
Prime MinisterManmohan Singh
Preceded byShivraj Patil
Minister of Finance
In office
22 May 2004 – 30 November 2008
Prime MinisterManmohan Singh
Preceded byJaswant Singh
Succeeded byManmohan Singh
In office
1 June 1996 – 21 April 1997
Prime MinisterH. D. Deve Gowda
Preceded byJaswant Singh
Succeeded byInder Kumar Gujral
Minister of State for Commerce and Industry
(Independent Charge)
In office
1995–1996
Prime MinisterP. V. Narasimha Rao
In office
1991–1992
Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
In office
26 December 1985 – 2 December 1989
Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi
Preceded byK.P. Singh Deo
Succeeded byMargaret Alva
Personal details
Born (1945-09-16) 16 September 1945 (age 79)
Kandanur, British Raj (now India)
Political partyIndian National Congress (Before 1996; 2004–present)
Other political
affiliations		Tamil Maanila Congress (1996–2001)
Congress Jananayaka Peravai (2001–2004)
SpouseNalini Chidambaram
ChildrenKarti Palaniappan Chidambaram
Alma materUniversity of Madras (B.Sc./LL.B.)
Harvard Business School (M.B.A.)
ProfessionLawyer
WebsiteOfficial website

Chidambaram Palaniappan (born 16 September 1945) is an Indian politician with the Indian National Congress and the current Union Minister of Home Affairs of the Republic of India. Previously he was the Finance Minister of India from May 2004 to November 2008. However, after the resignation of Shivraj Patil, Chidambaram was made the Home Affairs Minister.[1]

Early life and education

Chidambaram was born to Kandanur L. Ct. L. Palaniyappa Chettiar and Mrs. Lakshmi Achi in Kanadukathan in the Sivaganga District, in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. He was born into the royal family of Chettinad.[2] Chidambaram did his schooling from the Madras Christian College Hr.Sec.School, Chennai. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree in Statistics from The Presidency College, Chennai, he completed his Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from the Madras Law College currently Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College, Chennai, and his Masters in Business Administration (M.B.A.) from Harvard Business School class of 1968. He also holds a Masters from Loyola College, Chennai.[3]

He enrolled as an Advocate in the Chennai High Court. He was designated as a Senior Advocate in 1984. He has chambers in Delhi and Chennai and practices in the Supreme Court and in various High Courts in India.

Political career

Chidambaram was first 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 re-elected from the same constituency in the general elections of 1989, 1991, 1996, 1998, 2004 and 2009. 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 (TNPCC) 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. 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, 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.[citation needed]

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; this put him in the limelight. 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-Communist Party United Progressive Alliance government on 24 May 2004. During the intervening period Chidambaram made some experiments in his political career, leaving the Tamil Maanila Congress 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. Just before the elections of 2004, he merged his party with the mainstream Congress party and 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.[citation needed]

On November 30, 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 November 26, 2008. The public response to this move was generally favourable given Chidambaram's reputation for competence and efficiency.

He has been credited with taking the bold decision of prioritizing elections above corporate demands to deploy security for T20-20 matches if IPL.[4]

In 2009, Chidambaram was re-elected from Sivaganga Lok Sabha constituency in the Congress victory and retained the Home ministry.

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. The agreement was a result of Mamata Banerjee's effort to end a decade long unrest in the hills of Darjeeling.[5]

Family and personal life

His grand uncles and grand father were the Co-founders of Indian Overseas Bank, Indian Bank, United India Insurance and Annamalai University.[6][7][8][9][10]

He is married to Nalini Chidambaram who is a Senior Advocate and a tax lawyer practicing in the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court, primarily in litigation related to the Central Excise department of the Government of India. He has a son, Karti P. Chidambaram, who graduated with a BBA degree from the University of Texas, and a Bachelors in Law from Cambridge University. His son is also a politician in the Congress party.

Chidambaram is an atheist.[11]

References

  1. ^ "Home minister Shivraj Patil quits, Chidambaram to take over". The Times Of India. 2008-11-30.
  2. ^ Chidambaram, Wife Own Assets Worth Over Rs 20 Crore. news.outlookindia.com (2009-04-23). Retrieved on 2011-08-16.
  3. ^ Meg Bert̩ (MBA '00) РDecember 2005 РAlumni Bulletin РHarvard Business School. Alumni.hbs.edu. Retrieved on 2011-08-16.
  4. ^ A victory for the terrorist?. Hindu.com. Retrieved on 2011-11-01.
  5. ^ Historic pact paves way for peace in Darjeeling hills – Times Of India. Articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved on 2011-11-01.
  6. ^ M.Ct.M Group Education and Business Activities. Mctmib.org. Retrieved on 2011-08-16.
  7. ^ Tamil Nadu / Sivaganga News : IOB founder’s birth centenary celebrated. The Hindu (2008-08-04). Retrieved on 2011-08-16.
  8. ^ Chennainagarathar.com. Chennainagarathar.com. Retrieved on 2011-08-16.
  9. ^ Welcome to Annamalai University. Annamalaiuniversity.ac.in. Retrieved on 2011-08-16.
  10. ^ Raja Sir Annamalai Chettiar | Nagarathar Sangam of North America. Achi.org. Retrieved on 2011-08-16.
  11. ^ Interesting facts about 2009 Indian cabinet, NDTV
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Palaniappan Chidambaram.

Others

Lok Sabha
Preceded by Member for Sivaganga
1984–1999 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member for Sivaganga
2004–2009 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Finance
1996–1997 		Succeeded by
Minister of Finance
2004–2008 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Home Affairs
2008–present 		Incumbent

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