Congmen fail to defend Chidambaram

The Congress was either unprepared for the ferocity of the assault, or deliberately quiet. But except V Narayanaswamy and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Suresh Pachauri, only a few Congressmen came to their finance minister's aid in the morning when the Rajya Sabha met.

The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had decided at the very outset that they were going to raise the matter in a big way when the House opened, for tactical reasons, postponed a discussion on this matter in the Lok Sabha.

Leader of the Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee held consultations with party managers about the best way of deflecting the attack on P Chidambaram. As Mukherjee was indisposed in the afternoon, the finance minister and the defence minister spoke on the phone after the Rajya Sabha was adjourned.

It was only after Chidambaram had made his personal explanation and confessed that if he'd had any hint about his wife's involvement in the CBDT matter, he would have stopped it, did the Congress get active.

Seniors like Ambika Soni and Vayalar Ravi and middle-rung MPs like Rajiv Shukla, Raju Parmar, Prema Cariappa banded together to defend Chidambaram. Supporting parties, the RJD, the CPI and the CPI(M) just watched.

It was in the late afternoon that the Opposition became strident in its attack. At a briefing, Sushma Swaraj (BJP) said the issue of tainted ministers had been dogging the UPA ever since it was formed. "Now one more name has been added to the list," she said.

She also said the Rajya Sabha Chairman had been intimated about the Opposition's intention to raise the matter and that should have been enough notice for the finance minister to come to the House.

She said the AIADMK MP, N Jothi, had apprised the Chairman, in a letter, of evidence that the finance minister's brother had profited from the case fought by Chidambaram's wife, which the government had lost.

"Is ignorance an excuse? Can he say: 'I am innocent because I did not know'?" Swaraj asked. Swaraj then turned to the real target""Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"We have a Prime Minister who swears by transparency and a clean image. We want Singh to drop the finance minister from the council of ministers. We are not at all satisfied by his (Chidambaram's) statement," she said.

The Left parties, that were, till yesterday, saying Mrs Chidambaram was her own person and an independent woman, today changed their tune. "Now, bigger issues are involved. If there is an issue of corruption, we have to review our position," said CPI(M) member Brinda Karat.

A minister with a reputation for incorruptibility, who has always said money should be one's servant, never a master, just watched expressionlessly.