Chidambaram not to contest Lok Sabha elections, nominates son Karti

New Delhi: Union finance minister P. Chidambaram has opted out of the Lok Sabha elections with Congress, in its fourth candidate list on Thursday night, nominating his son Karti Chidambaram from his constituency Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu. Ghulam Nabi Azad was brought as a candidate from Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir.

Soon after the announcement, Karti said: “My father has contested nine elections and thought it is time to give way. He is definitely not retiring from politics.”

The name of Azad and Karti figure in the list of 50 Congress Lok Sabha candidates announced on Thursday, which also brought an end to speculation over remaining two Lok Sabha seats of Delhi - West Delhi and South Delhi - with the party re-nominating sitting MPs Mahabal Mishra and Ramesh Kumar.

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[caption id=“attachment_77168” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Finance minister P Chidambaram. PTI[/caption]

Congress had already nominated sitting MPs in five other seats of Delhi.

With the announcement on Thursday, all seven sitting MPs of Congress stand re-nominated. AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh’s brother Laxman Singh has been fielded from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh from where Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj is the sitting BJP MP.

Former Union ministers Mani Shankar Aiyar has been nominated from his traditional seat of Mayiladuthurai in Tamil Nadu and R. Prabhu from Coimbatore.

PTI