Chidambaram declines standing election, as party popularity slides

NEW DELHI, March 21 (Reuters) India's finance minister, P.Chidambaram, has declined to stand in upcoming national elections, adding to a sense of gloom in the ruling Congress party as a growing list of highprofile cabinet members shied away from facing voters at the ballot box.

After ten years in office, the Congress party is trailing in opinion polls. Thanks to its failure to check corruption, cool inflation and spark an economic revival, it is widely expected to be defeated in the election that begins on April 7.Chidambaram, a Harvard-trained former lawyer, 68, is credited with overseeing India's years of fastest growth.

But he was less successful in his third stint in the finance ministry from 2012, a period of economic malaise that fuelled the slide in his party's popularity.

“He has seen victory and he has also seen results which have not been in his favour,” said his son, Karti Chidambaram, who confirmed the decision, and will now contest from his father's constituency in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

Asked by Indian network NDTV if his father feared defeat, he replied, “That's not a correct comment about the reasons why he has opted out.” But he did not elaborate.

CHENNAI, March 20, 2014 (The Hindu) - A city court on Thursday directed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and her close aide N. Sasikala to appear before it on April 3 to face trial in cases pertaining to alleged failure in the filing of Income Tax returns.

Rejecting a plea to adjourn the case for three weeks, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) R. Dakshinamurthy said: “This court feels that the reasons stated for adjournment are not acceptable in law. Hence, the petition filed by the accused is dismissed.