Chidambaram: Stab me but don’t question my integrity

Union home minister P Chidambaram on Monday went emotional in his defence of the charges against his son Karti. “Plunge a dagger in my heart rather than question my integrity,” he said in the Rajya Sabha while responding to clarifications sought by leader of the opposition Arun Jaitley.

Before making this statement, Chidambaram came almost on the verge of revealing some information based on his private conversations, but then stepped back, asserting that such details should not be made public.

The house witnessed acrimonious scenes with AIADMK member V Maitreyan demanding that he be given an opportunity to be heard. But the charge from the opposition was led by Jaitley who insisted that Chidambaram’s clarification had raised fresh questions because the two companies Oxbridge and Advantage shared the same email address. He also charged that these two companies gained an advantage at a later date.

An uneasy Chidambaram first said he was not aware of this detail, and then asserted that even if true this information did not prove anything.  He said he had no objections to any inquiry to be conducted into the accounts of either Advantage or Oxbridge.

The opposition demanded that finance minister Pranab Mukherjee come out with a clarificaton.  When the house reassembled, Mukherjee narrated the sequence of events related to the clearances and said that there was no delay. Although Mukherjee’s attempt was to silence the criticism against Chidambaram, the opposition was not satisfied with his reply.  Apparently, Mukherjee sensed the mood of the house and agreed to talk to Jaitley on the issue after going through the proceedings. “We shall fix-up some time for discussion if required,” he said.