Two of a kind...

Finance Minister P Chidambaram and former FM Yashwant Sinha have both sat out the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The two have left the uphill job of protecting the family constituencies to their sons. Sinha's son, Jayant, is said to be nervous about his fate in Hazaribagh, while most observers in Tamil Nadu agree Chidambaram's son, Karti, would find it difficult to win from the Sivaganga constituency. The two fathers, however, have over the past month and a half traded insults over their respective tenures as finance ministers. Epithets such as fraud, clever, worst and disaster have been exchanged, with an eager Delhi media giving the verbal duel suitable coverage. People are marvelling how the two old masters had the good sense to opt out of potentially unfavourable electoral battles but have still managed to be in the news.