He became the finance minister in the Bharatiya Janata Party government which lasted just a month from May-June 1996. In July 2002, he once again became the finance minister. He held the post till the General Election of May 2004. He played a key role in pushing ahead market-friendly reforms.
Jaswant Singh was an officer in the Indian Army in the 1960s. He is one of the few Indian politicians to have held the potfolios of defence, finance and external affairs. When the BJP failed to garner the required majority in Parliament in 2004, the Congress-led coalition came to power at the Centre and P Chidambaram became the country's finance minister.
P Chidambaram
Palaniappan Chidambaram has the distinction of presenting six Budgets. He is gearing up to present his seventh Budget on February 29, 2008. He became the finance minister for the second time in May 2004 in the United Progressive Alliance government. His first stint as the finance minister was from 1996 to 1998. Chidambaran is acclaimed to have carried forward the economic reforms started in 1991 by Manmohan Singh.
He is known for his 'dream Budget' in 1996-97, in which he curbed government expenditure and launched an ambitious tax reforms programme to address a huge fiscal deficit.
He started his career as a lawyer in the the Madras high court.
Image: Jaswant Singh (left) P Chidambaram (right).
Advertisement
