The controversy surrounding finance minister Shri P Chidambaram's wife Nalini appearing in court cases on behalf of the Income-Tax Department created a great furore in both the Houses of Parliament in the last leg of Monsoon Session. The Opposition cutting across party lines protested vociferously and even staged a walkout. BJP led the attack and made the situation awkward for the UPA. But following true Congress tradition lame excuses were given by the Government while defending the appointment of Smt. Nalini Chidambaram as counsel to Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).

The Finance Minister Shri P Chidambaram himself appeared in both the Houses in a vain effort to wash his hands off the whole controversy and claimed that he had no knowledge of the IT department's decision to appoint his wife as a special counsel, until he received the notice submitted by ADMK MP N Jyoti in this regard to the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

In an attempt to coax the Opposition he further said "I believe that none of my respected colleagues in the House would seriously think that had the matter been brought to my notice I would have allowed it to proceed an inch further."

However, not satisfied with his explanation, opposition parties walked out of the Lok Sabha, demanding his resignation. In Rajya Sabha also the issue continued to disrupt the proceedings and the House was adjourned twice.

Even outside the two Houses of Parliament, BJP continued to highlight the issue. Deputy Leader of BJP in Rajya Sabha Smt. Sushma Swaraj blasted the claims made by Shri Chidambarm terming it "not only a case of impropriety but also corruption, favouritism and nepotism where a Cabinet minister has helped his wife get a job that brings in huge financial benefits to her. For every hearing she gets paid Rs 2 lakh to represent the CBDT. This is a fit case for the finance minister to resign from his post."

She was surprised that the Prime Minister had not taken any action after an ADMK Member in Rajya Sabha raised the issue. "If Shri Chidambaram doesn't resign, the Prime Minister should drop him from the Cabinet"

In his earlier tenure as the finance minister, Shri Chidambaram resigned in 1998 when it came to light that his wife had invested money with Ketan Parekh stocks, whose firm was accused of manipulating the market.

When this controversy stirred in Parliament CBDT released a written statement and it "regretted" the embarrassment it had caused the Finance Minister by "not informing him" about the fact. Shri Chidambaram's wife Nalini also came to his rescue and claimed that her husband had no knowledge of the fact, but maintained that, "I am an independent woman professional and this was entirely a professional matter between the Income Tax department and me."

Smt Swaraj dismissed these statements as feeble attempts to bail out the Finance Minister. "If they are husband and wife, how is it that he does not know about it?" she asked.

It is true that the NDA Government had engaged her and some Congressmen asked if NDA Government was right then how come the UPA Government was wrong in allowing her continuing with it? When reporters put this question to Smt. Swaraj, she said, "Once her husband becomes a Minister, it becomes an issue of propriety. Even when the NDA was in power, Civil Aviation Minister Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy's wife had proceeded on leave from Air India after her husband became a Minister."