Hours after Naxals struck in a big way in Chhattisgarh on Friday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was briefed by Home Minister P Chidambaram on the incident and the strategy being adopted by his ministry to tackle the menace of naxalism in the wake of the worst-ever attack.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and Home Minister P Chidambaram will meet on Monday to decide who will become the next central vigilance commissioner. According to the Supreme Court's instructions, the PM, home minister and the leader of Opposition has to finalise the CVC together. On Thursday, Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan held an informal meeting with BJP leader Sushma Swaraj.
The home minister's visit comes days after he praised state Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for his firm handling of the situation in the run up to the Republic Day
"It is not the Rahul that you think it is. It could be a pseudonym; it could be a code name but please be assured that it is not the Rahul that you think it is," he said at a press conference in an obvious reference to the Congress MP.
Government on Saturday hailed the verdict of Delhi court dismissing a plea to make Home Minister P Chidambaram an accused in the 2G case, saying it vindicates its stand and also of the Congress party.
In a huge relief for Union Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, a special Central Bureau of Investigation court on Saturday dismissed a petition by Janata Party President Dr Subramanian Swamy seeking to make Chidambaram a co-accused in the 2G spectrum case.
Congress sources have told rediff.com that Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram or External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will replace Shivraj Patil, who resigned on Sunday, as home minister. The announcement is likely to be made in the next couple of hours after the all-party meeting called to discuss the Mumbai terror attacks.
With important judgments in the 2G spectrum scam case expected this year, neither the government nor Home Minister P Chidambaram will be able to rest easy.
In an attempt to kickstart the process of setting up National Security Guard hubs in the country in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday discussed the matter with Army and NSG Chiefs. During the hour-long meeting, Chidambaram sought assistance from the army to operationalise the hubs in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad in the first phase, Home Ministry sources said.
The Home Minister, who is on a two-day visit to Orissa, met the victims living in relief camps set up after a series of communal clashes following the killing of 85-year-old VHP leader Swami Laxmananda Saraswati in August last year.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday said the New Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express and passengers on board were safe and that the Centre has rushed a relief train to bring back the passengers.
Yoga guru Ramdev on Monday alleged in the Supreme Court that Home Minister P Chidambaram was behind the midnight crackdown on him and his followers during the protests on the issue of black money at the Ramlila Maidan in June.
"We demand the resignation of Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Union Home Secretary G K Pillai, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah and state Director General of Police Girish Kumar in connection with Azad's murder," Maoist leader Kishenji told PTI over phone.
Chidambaram appealed to political parties in Andhra Pradesh to read the recommendations of the Justice Srikrishna Committee on Telangana with an "open mind" and give "impartial consideration" to them.
A case registered against Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and his predecessor P Chidambaram in Hyderabad for allegedly "cheating" Telangana people through "misleading" statements about the separate statehood has been closed for lack of evidence, Cyberabad police said on Monday.
Coming to the defence of Home Minister P Chidambaram, the government on Friday insisted that the former finance minister had "no role anywhere" in the 2G spectrum allocation controversy and demands for his resignation were a "conspiracy" against him.
A special Delhi court on Thursday allowed Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy to become a witness in his complaint against Home Minister P Chidambaram in the 2G case. The court also told Swamy to appear in the witness box on December 17 to give his statement. Swamy had sought the court's permission to examine witnesses, including senior Central Bureau of Investigation officials, to establish erstwhile finance minister and present Home Minister P Chidambaram's role.
While posting the matter for hearing on Thursday, the bench said: "We are conscious that we should not usurp the jurisdiction of the concerned trial court".
Pakistan on Monday welcomed Home Minister P Chidambaram's remarks about sharing the findings of the probe into the Samjhauta Express bombing, claiming that the level of cooperation on interaction on security matters had enhanced between the two nations. Welcoming his Indian counterpart's statement in this regard, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said, "I welcome the statement of Mr Chidambaram on Samjhauta Express investigations to be shared with Pakistan."
Under fire for the alleged leakage of the Liberhan Commission report, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram called the home secretary, a joint secretary and a few other officials to his residence to establish that he wasn't responsible.Chidambaram called his top officers on Monday to break the seals and open four boxes of documents which were annexures to the main report. These were all kept in a secured corner of his official residence.
Flaying the Union government for the death of his devotee Rajbala who succumbed to her injuries suffered in the Ramlila ground lathi charge, yoga guru Ramdev on Tuesday pointedly blamed Union Home Minister P Chidambaram for it.
Left-wing extremism is a greater challenge to the country than terrorism in terms of the number of lives lost in violence, Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Wednesday. "Terrorism is a major challenge for the security and sovereignty of our country. But left-wing extremism is a greater challenge than terrorism in terms of the number of people killed in violence," Chidambaram said. "Ten times more people are killed in Naxal attacks than in terror strikes," he said.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday formally announced the death of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and four others in a helicopter crash.The wreckage was found by Air Force helicopters at 8.30 am on a hillock, which is 8 to 9 km from Atmakur, he said."The bodies are still lying on the hillock and all efforts are being made to retrieve them. I don't know how long the process will take," said Chidambaram.
With states stoutly opposed to the National Counter Terrorism Centre in its current form, Home Minister P Chidambaram has assured that the matter of re-location of the anti-terror body outside the Intelligence Bureau would be re-examined. In his concluding remarks at the chief ministers' conference, which were released officially on Sunday, the home minister sought to clarify the decision of placing the NCTC within the IB.
Citing 'frail' health, Chidambaram also said he is not 'accustomed' to food given to him in the jail and has lost 4 kg weight during judicial custody.
An effigy of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram was set on fire by victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy on Saturday to protest the decision by the Group of Ministers of not revising the figures of deaths and the injured in the curative petition pending before the Supreme Court. The GoM decision would mean the victims would not be able to claim additional compensation, which they have been clamouring for.
Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday said protesting Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha workers were not lathicharged by police on August 9 in the capital, an issue which had sparked uproar in Parliament with the Bharatiya Janata Party stalling proceedings and demanding his resignation.
Home Minister P Chidambaram has taken a major share of the pie of the Empowered Group of Ministers and Group of Ministers after the exit of Pranab Mukherjee.
Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday expressed surprise over the statement made by wife of jailed rights activist Binayak Sen, who had said that she did not feel safe in the country.Answering questions about the judgement sentencing Sen to life imprisonment on sedition charges, Chidambaram said the judgement may be unsatisfactory for many people but the only way to 'correct' it was by filing an appeal. Binayak Sen has been convicted by a court of law," he said.
While a revamp our internal security architecture is needed, an all powerful home minister may not be such a good idea, writes strategic expert B Raman.
"I was disinclined" to move to the Home Ministry but in a situation like this, "I answered to the call of duty", P Chidambaram said on Monday on his portfolio being changed from Finance Minister to Home Minister.
In a letter he wrote to the Chairman, Kharge urged him to not take up any other business in the House and keep the proceedings limited to the discussion on the security breach.
The CBI suspects that Chidamabaram and his son Karti also received kickbacks from other companies.
Refusing to buy the argument that the remarks on P Chidambaram in the 2G note was the handiwork of a single officer, Communist Party of India-Marxist on Friday demanded the resignation of the home minister alleging that it clearly showed that he gave the nod for a policy which led to a loss to the exchequer.
Terming scrapping of the Article 370 as a "black day in the history of India, Chidambaram said: "Momentarily you may think you have scored a victory... drum beats on streets may force you to think that you have corrected a so-called injustice but history will prove you.... Future generations will realise what a grave mistake this House is making today."
Home Minister P Chidambaram wanted speedy completion of an ambitious project to increase coordination among various state police forces to counter terror challenges. Once the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) is complete, it will mark a quantum jump in country's ability to counter various challenges to internal security, particularly terror threats, he said.
Referring to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's letter to the Prime Minister in the 2G Spectrum case, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday alleged that Home Minister P Chidambaram was involved in the scam and demanded that he should resign or else be sacked immediately.
'He said there was no question of ordering a probe at the Centre's level. This comes within the jurisdiction of the Andhra Pradesh government,' Swami Agnivesh tells Rediff.com
The Delhi government has given a go-ahead to the city police to prosecute former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and nine others in connection with a four-year-old sedition case, as the ruling AAP denied the persistent BJP charge of blocking the proceedings in the matter.
Expressing deep hurt, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday strongly rejected Bharatiya Janata Party's allegation that he had favoured a Delhi-based hotelier, his former client, in withdrawing three FIRs filed against him and dismissed suggestions there was any conflict of interest involved in it.
