Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram may not be contesting the Lok Sabha elections, but that has not stopped him from making ‘personal’ appeals to youth to vote for his son Karthi Chidambaram, who is fighting a lone battle against the Dravidian parties in Sivaganga Parliamentary constituency.
In individual letters to beneficiaries of the UPA’s educational loan scheme for students in the constituency, he has appealed to them to cast their votes for his son, reminding them that it was he (Chidambaram) who was instrumental in bringing the scheme.
In the letter dated March 16, 2014, Chidambaram claimed that the first thing that struck him after taking charge as finance minister was to provide educational loans to students from the disadvantaged sections without any collateral.
“Whenever I sanctioned education loans to the students, I would ask them about their father’s income. Their answers moved me. Hence, from 2009, I also announced waiver of interest on the loans till the students completed their college education,” the letter from the Minister said.
For students who availed education loans prior to April 2009, Chidambaram said he announced interest waiver with effect from December 2013 and allotted `2,600 crore for the purpose.
He, therefore, appealed to the beneficiaries that to help extend the scheme to thousands of students, they should vote the Congress back to power.
Commenting on this, Rajiv Gandhi, a member of Naam Tamilar Katchi, who fought against Chidambaram in the last election, claimed that the Minister had resorted to emotional appeal as the youth were against him and the party due to Eelam issue. “This time, he fears his son will be defeated, which is why he has resorted to such a tactic,” he said.