Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday denied reports that he would be retiring from politics, saying he was only giving way to youngsters to revive Congress and "rejuvenate" it.
"A section of press reports that I am going to retire from politics. I am not retiring...I am only giving way to the youngsters. Youth should be fielded to rejuvenate the party," he said.
While speaking at Pudukottai two days back, he had said he would step down from electoral politics and choose to serve the people following the path of Mahatma Gandhi.
Addressing a series of election meetings in his constituency here, he claimed that the main contestants in the coming Lok Sabha polls are Congress and BJP.
He recalled that former BJP leader and Prime Minister Vaypayee was a fair and a dignified man. "But his Government was not fair and dignified."
The Finance Minister then lashed out at BJP, saying the party was born out of "communal fanaticism" and was one of the faces of RSS, which did not have any woman leader in the organisation, nor any Muslim, Christian or Dalit.
Chidambaram also listed out the development activities initiated and implemented by the Congress-led UPA government, including expansion of NTC textile mills and BHEL unit.
'AIADMK BJP's 'B' Team'
In a statement released to the press, Chidambaram claimed that AIADMK and BJP had many principles in common and it was only because of Narendra Modi's insistence, that Jayalalithaa had parted ways with the Left parties.
Seeking to point out that Jayalalithaa has so far not clarified as to which national alliance her party would support after the elections, the Finance Minister wondered on what basis her party hoped to be a part of the next government at the Centre.
Holding that the AIADMK chief has only been critical of Congress government and not the BJP, Chidambaram claimed that Jayalalithaa's party would be the first to join hands with the "BJP when it takes efforts to form the next government after the polls."
Chidambaram said he would talk about the DMK alliance on Tuesday.