Ready for I-T raid: P Chidambaram

Chennai: Former Union Minister P Chidambaram has said he would "welcome" the Income Tax department if they chose to raid his premises in hometown Sivaganga and at Chennai.

"I have been told that the IT department has plans to raid my residences in Sivaganga constituency and in Chennai. We will welcome the search party", said the Congress senior in a series of tweets late Sunday night.

"The IT Department knows that we have nothing to hide. They and other agencies have searched our residences before and found nothing. The intention is to cripple the election campaign", said another PC tweet.

His son Karti is the Congress candidate in the Sivaganga constituency, fielded against BJP national secretary H Raja.

Reacting to the PC tweets, AIADMK senior minister D Jayakumar said teasingly that the Congress senior was making his 'confident' offers to the IT sleuths only because "they had stashed away their money outside". They knew the IT search teams would find nothing in their premises but the authorities "are well aware" of where the money had gone, the minister told reporters.

In another tweet, Chidambaram raised questions on the opulence seen at PM Narendra Modi's poll rallies. "At every rally there is a pandal that is better than a rich family's marriage pandal. There are tens of LED screens. What is the source of this huge amount of money?" Chidambaram asked.