BJP corners Chidambaram on Aircel-Maxis case in LS

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday sought to target former Finance Minister P Chidambaram by raising the Aircel-Maxis case in the Lok Sabha and demanding immediate filing of an FIR by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) so that the guilty could be brought to book soon in the “open-and-shut case”. 

Raising the issue during zero hour, Nishikant Dubey said dramatic developments were taking place in the case after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids on firms linked to the scam.

One of the raids has revealed that the grand-daughter of the former Finance Minister was the sole beneficiary in the will of four shareholders of a firm associated with the scam, making it an “open and shut case”, he claimed. Without taking Chidambaram’s name, Dubey alleged that his son enjoyed ownership of some of the suspect firms having assets abroad.

He alleged that the UPA rule reeked of corruption as he named some companies allegedly involved in the case. “The CBI must file an FIR at the earliest so that the guilty could be brought to book”, he said amid protests by Congress members, including Mallikarjun Kharge and KC Venugopal.

Jyotiraditya Scindia was heard protesting to the Speaker as to why “double standards” were being adopted as the party was not allowed to raise the VVIP chopper scam issue on which it had given notice for an adjournment motion, but this one was allowed.

BJD’s Bhartruhari Mahtab and Tathagata Satpathy demanded that the government respond in the matter. In the last session, AIADMK and BJD members had disrupted Parliament, seeking a CBI probe into the Aircel-Maxis deal, which they linked to Chidambaram’s son Karti. Later, Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy said “evidence” of Chidambaram family’s financial empire across the world is before the nation and sought his and Congress’ response.