P. Chidambaram
| Classification | Finance Minister of India, Indian politician |
| Date of Birth | September 16, 1945 |
| Place of Birth | Kaanaadukaathaan, Sivagangaa District, Tamil Nadu |
| Education | B.Sc., B.L. (Presidency College, Chennai), M.B.A. (Harvard University, Boston) |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Importance | Known to be a honest politician, and one of the richest politicians (based on declared assets) from Tamil Nadu |
P. Chidambaram is the finance minister of India in the Congress-led UPA government (2004-2009). He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2004 from Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu, the constituency from which he was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1984. He was minister of state for commerce and also for personnel from 1985 to 89 in Rajiv Gandhi's ministry and was minister of state for commerce with independent charge from 1991 to 1996 in the Narasimha Rao government. He was Finance Minister from 1996 to 1998 in the United Front government. He is considered to be one of the best finance ministers the country has ever had.
An MBA graduate from Harvard, he started as a leftist, went on to be an architect of the Congress government's economic reform strategies as Rajiv Gandhi's right hand man, and has today ascended to the post of India's Finance Minister with the new United Front Government, after yet another affiliation shift.
In 1996, Chidambaram quit the Congress over its decision to ally with AIADMK and joined the Tamil Maanila Congress. He is now back in the Congress again.
The letter P in his name stands for initial, as his father's name is Palaniyappan. See Indian family name for a further reading.
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