CHENNAI: Income Tax Commissioner SK Srivastava has levelled serious allegations against former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, of subverting the electoral process, in collusion with the District Electoral Officer of Sivaganga. The officer alleged “unfettered abuse of black money” by the senior Congress leader to hide the discrepancies in Karti’s nomination papers.
Accusing the DEO of being ‘partisan’, Srivastava accused the officer of ignoring glaring concealment of facts by Karti, “about being on bail from various courts... concealment of immovable property and bank accounts.”
In a letter written to election officials in Delhi and the Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu, Srivastava listed out the alleged violations by Karti Chidambaram.
He alleged that the Special Expenditure Observer of Sivaganga had found that 67 complaints were made by “physically available complainants” about black money being parked by P Chidambaram in grocery stores to allegedly bribe voters who come to purchase provisions. But, he said, no action was taken on the issue. “The matter was hushed up by the DEO.”
Interestingly, the officer also pointed out that in Karti’s affidavit, his father’s name is mentioned just as Chidambaram, not P Chidambaram, “which is his correct name as stated in the Rajya Sabha records”.
This is not the first time that Srivastava has made allegations against Chidambaram. He dashed off an explosive letter against Chidambaram at the end of the UPA term in 2014. In the UPA government led by the Congress, Chidambaram was a minister.