Palaniappan Chidambaram, also known as P. Chidambaram, is an Indian politician and lawyer. He served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs from 2017 to 2018. Chidambaram has held the role of Union Minister of Finance four times, spanning the entirety of the Union Progressive Alliance government from 2004 to 2014, except for a three-year period as Minister of Home Affairs. He resumed the position of Finance Minister in July 2012.

Born on 16th September 1945 in Kanadukathan, Tamil Nadu, India, Chidambaram pursued his education at Presidency College, Chennai, where he earned a BSc in Statistics, followed by a Bachelor's in Law from Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College. He furthered his studies at Harvard Business School, obtaining an MBA.

Chidambaram was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Sivaganga constituency of Tamil Nadu in the general elections of 1984. He rose through the ranks of the Congress party, initially serving as a union leader at MRF. Subsequently, he assumed leadership roles within the Tamil Nadu Youth Congress and later as the general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Pradesh Congress Committee unit.

In 1985, he joined the Union Council of Ministers in Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's government as a Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Commerce, later transitioning to the Ministry of Personnel. In 1986, he was appointed Minister of State for Internal Security in the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Transitioning to the Ministry of Commerce as Minister of State in 1991, Chidambaram's political journey saw him join a breakaway faction of the Tamil Nadu state unit of the Congress party called the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) in 1996. In the subsequent coalition government formed after the general elections of 1996, he served as the Finance Minister.

Amidst political shifts, Chidambaram formed his own party, the Congress Jananayaka Peravai, focusing on regional politics in Tamil Nadu. However, following the Congress party's victory in the 2004 elections, he merged his party with the mainstream Congress and resumed his role as Finance Minister under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

In 2008, he assumed the position of Union Home Minister following Shivraj Patil's resignation. He continued to serve as a prominent spokesperson for the Indian National Congress and was re-elected from the Sivaganga Lok Sabha Constituency in 2009, retaining the Home Ministry. Notably, he represented the central government during a tri-party agreement with the Gorkha Hill Council and the Government of West Bengal to resolve unrest in the Darjeeling hills.