Former Union Minister P Chidambaram, with allegations of massive scams against him, tweeted earlier today, expressing his shock and disbelief at tea and coffee at Chennai Airport priced at Rs. 135 and Rs. 180 respectively.
Coffee Rs 180. I asked who buys it? Answer was ‘many’. Am I outdated?
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) March 25, 2018
One is reminded of the fact that Chidambaram, when he was the Union Home Minister back in 2012, had questioned the urban middle class complaining about price rise by saying how can they complain when they can buy ice cream for Rs. 20. Interestingly, former finance minister’s family also owns a 200-acre coffee estate in Coorg, Karnataka, which is inherited by Chidambaram from his grandfather Raja Annamalai Chettiar in 1956, for which they receive agricultural income for which they have claimed full exemption from income tax.
As expected, Chidambaram got mocked for his statements which showed how he is so far from reality.
Karti has enough money if he can afford Singhvi as lawyer. Moreover, his daughter is going to inherit a fortune from Karti friends
— R Jagannathan (@TheJaggi) March 25, 2018
Interestingly, there are even reports of Karti, P Chidambaram’s son, having created a huge real estate empire for himself through his company Advantage Strategic Consulting, which also holds some franchisees of Café Coffee Day, the same coffee chain Chidambaram rejected the tea from, in parts of Malaysia.
Some even reminded how the price of coffee has more or less been the same even when he was the finance minister and home minister.
Don’t you think this @PChidambaram_IN tweet is laughable? It was RS 135 even when he was FM & HM and I saw drinking the same w/o any issue. @BDUTT @sardesairajdeep @Ram_Guha @RahulGandhi @rupasubramanya @sagarikaghose @Swamy39 https://t.co/eV0txZ1lkI
— Sundaresan (@rsundaresan1956) March 25, 2018
While many were just amused at the fact that perhaps the former finance minister has paid for his own tea or coffee for the first time.
The surprise is so obvious. Chidu uncle never bought tea on airport with his own money. Else he’d know that this is the situation since forever. https://t.co/xAeDg5bsOS
— Aladdin (@Alllahdin) March 25, 2018
For the first time in life he’s being made to pay for things. Literally and figuratively. https://t.co/c8JNK3JbtA
— दिव्या (@divya_16_) March 25, 2018
When some1 ventures out to buy his own things, obviously after many decades….? https://t.co/c4HeyPzLap
— Somnath Mukherjee (@somnath1978) March 25, 2018
And some reminded him how easy it was to file his grievances for the cost of coffee instead of tweeting about it.
Ohh so you couldn’t call up the CEO of CCD who is married to daughter of SM Krishna. Phone pe kaam hona band ho gaya lagta hai https://t.co/pcOXJFcCaG
— Ashu? (@muglikar_) March 25, 2018
Or perhaps be little mindful of disclosing his location, especially when it is Chennai Airport.
Be careful, your son was picked up from the same airport and your turn is up soon https://t.co/sGKGmM8tec
— Suresh N (@surnell) March 25, 2018
Jokes apart, Chidambaram’s attempt at coming across as an average middle class seems to have backfired terribly.