In Pudukkottai, Shah takes dig at 'scamster' Karti Chidambaram

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Tuesday appealed to the public at a rally here not to vote for former finance minister P Chidambaram's son Karti in the impending Lok Sabha polls, while calling the latter a 'scamster'.

Shah, who was addressing an election rally here, said, "I appeal to the people of Sivaganga parliamentary constituency to vote for NDA candidate against scamster Karti Chidambaram in order to strengthen the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi."

Karti, son of former Union minister P Chidambaram, is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Sivaganga parliamentary seat on Congress ticket.

"In their manifesto, the Congress has announced that all should get bail and no one should be put behind bars. Probably, it is meant for Karti Chidambaram," the BJP president quipped.

Karti is facing a probe in the INX media case. He was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2018 and had spent several nights in Delhi's Tihar jail.

Meanwhile, Shah drew a parallel between Prime Minister Modi and UPA leaders in the state, and said: "On one side, it is Narendra Modi is who is working for the betterment of the country while on the other side, there are leaders like Kanimozhi, A Raja, P Chidambaram, and Karti Chidambaram. It is up to the people of Tamil Nadu who they want to choose."

Shah also said that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will emerge victorious on more than 30 seats in Tamil Nadu.

The BJP is in alliance with the AIADMK, the DMDK, and the PMK to contest all 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Voting in Tamil Nadu will be held on April 18. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.