Former finance minister P Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram is one of the 26 candidates contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Sivaganga constituency in Tamil Nadu. AIADMK's sitting MP PR Senthilnathan, Kamal Haasan-led MNM's Kavingnar Senkan are among the many star candidates in the fray, however, Karti's main competition is with BJP national secretary H Raja and TTV Dhinakaran-led AMMK candidate V Pandi, who is gaining a lot of attention than the formers.

Family and Personal Life

Karti Chidambaram was born in November 1971 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, to senior Congress leader P Chidambaram and Nalini Chidambaram. Karti is married to Dr Srinidhi Rangarajan, a Bharathanatiyam dancer, and physician, and the couple has a daughter.

Karti has been a subject of various controversies and court cases. In 2012, it was alleged that he was involved in illegal transactions executed by a firm named Advantage Strategic Consulting. Later in 2015, he was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his alleged involvement in the Aircel-Maxis case. He has been accused by the New Indian Express and the Pioneer of being involved in various international business activities, many of which have been affiliated with tax havens.

Educational Qualifications

He did his schooling from Don Bosco School in Egmore, Chennai, and got enrolled at the University of Texas in Austin to study business management. Karti later pursued law from the University of Cambridge.

Political Journey

After completing his studies, Karti Chidambaram returned to Tamil Nadu to help his father who had broken his affiliations with the Congress and formed his own political party - Congress Jananayaga Peravai. Karti joined the fledgeling party and managed P Chidambaram's election campaign in Sivaganga.

Karti made his electoral debut in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections when he contested from the Sivaganga parliamentary seat, which his father had held for seven terms since 1984, with a Congress ticket. Karti lost the elections to AIADMK's PR Senthilnathan by a huge difference of votes. He received 10.18 per cent popular vote compared to Senthilnathan's 46.52 per cent vote share.

Future Prospects

The 47-year-old businessman-cum-politician has been given a ticket from Sivaganga parliamentary seat by the Congress for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Sivaganga used to be an undisputed bastion of the Congress and Karti's father P Chidambaram but they lost the public mandate in the 2014 general elections.

Karti has a Herculean task at hand to get Congress back to winning ways in the constituency. On April 18, when Tamil Nadu goes all in for the general elections, Karti will be locking horns with BJP's H Raja, AMMK's V Pandi and AIADMK's PR Senthilnathan.