Wikileaks: Chidambaram's son distributes cash as bribes

mar 18th, 2011 CE

even with all this, chidambaram was trailing by 30,000 votes, and sweating bullets, when -- lo, it was a miracle! -- a rather portly angel with the initials NC appeared bearing the good news: the EVMs had worked! yes, it was a miracle. chidambaram won with last-minute heroics! well, after all, NC has certain connections with certain 'saints'. no wonder he can pull off miracles.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: A

http://www.wikileaks.ch/cable/2009/05/09CHENNAI144.html

¶4. (C) Rural voters also expect candidates to deliver goods in exchange for votes. Home Minister P. Chidambaram's son, Karti Chidambaram, who is managing his father's campaign for the Lok Sabha seat from Sivaganga, Tamil Nadu, told us that ""every village leader asks for two things: some money for the local temple and a community hall."" Chidambaram went on to say that it is impossible to fulfill every such request, but that he does give ""a few sops"" to villages that might be on the fence about supporting his father. He specifically denied paying cash for votes, but not because of any moral objection to doing so. According to Chidambaram, he does not pay cash for votes in his rural constituency because it is impossible to distribute the money effectively when the villages are spread so far apart. But the President of the Tamil Nadu Youth Congress told us that he had just visited Chidambaram and said, ""Karti is doing a good job in Sivaganga. He is distributing some money to the people...