Chidambaram not to contest polls, fields son Karti from Sivaganga

Finance Minister P Chidambaram will not contest the 2014 general elections. His son, Karti Chidambaram has been instead been named as the Congress candidate from the Sivaganga constituency in Tamil Nadu.

Despite Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi asking senior leaders of Congress to contest in the upcoming election, Chidambaram decided not to contest. Earlier, he said that he want to give opportunity to the youth.

Karti Chidambaram said that his father is not retiring from the politics, but he wanted to focus only on party work as he had fought enough elections.

"Deeply honoured by the opportunity given to me by our party - Indian National Congress," the junior Chidambaram tweeted.

CNN IBN quoted him saying "you can't pick me because I'm Chidambaram's son, but at the same time you can't disqualify me because I am Chidambaram's son. I have been working with the party since 1996 and I have been giving my best to the party."

A lawyer turned politician, Karti will make his electoral debut from Sivaganga, from where his father won seven times.

In an interview to NDTV, Karti said, "It's a huge challenge. I would work very hard. The Congress in Sivaganga is organised and ready."

The party also announced that EV KS Elangovan will contest from Tiruppur and Manishankar Iyer from Mayiladuthurai. The list, which was released on Thursday evening, had 30 names for the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu.

The Congress party, which is heading the UPA Government in the Centre, fought the last two Lok Sabha elections along with DMK. But this time it is fighting the polls alone. On this issue, Karti told NDTV, "It is not an big issue, AIADMK is contesting the election alone and DMK doesn't have any national party in the alliance. DMK not taking us on board is a political reality. We have to face it. No question of isolation of Congress in Tamil Nadu."

In 2004 Lok Sabha election, Congress managed to clock in 14.4% of the total vote bank in the state and in 2009 it  marginally increased to 15%. In 2004 election, the party managed to win 10 seats of the total 39 seats, while in 2009 election it's candidates won in eight constituencies of the total 39 seats.