New Delhi, April 5: Former Union minister P. Chidambaram finds himself in the unusual position of contesting on the election symbol of one party even though he belongs to another.

Chidambaram, who heads the Dravidian outfit, the Congress Jananayaka Peravai, will fight from his traditional Sivaganga Lok Sabha seat on the Congress’ hand symbol come Election 2004.

This unusual arrangement follows weeks of lobbying by Chidambaram with top leaders of the Congress and the DMK to let him contest from Sivaganga without insisting he merge his outfit with the Congress. Sections of the Tamil Nadu Congress opposed the arrangement and wanted the former Union minister to merge his outfit with the party to which he once belonged, but Chidambaram managed to get his way.

The former minister is not the only one to “borrow” the Congress symbol for the elections. Kisan Morcha leader B.M. Singh will do likewise when he takes on BJP leader and former Union minister Maneka Gandhi in Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh.

Congress leaders say the party is ready to hand out a few more tickets in Uttar Pradesh to candidates from fringe parties if they are willing to contest on its symbol.

The leadership today gave tickets to relatives of many senior leaders. Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister H.N. Bahuguna’s son Vijay was named as the party candidate from his father’s Tehri Garwal Lok Sabha seat in Uttaranchal.

The ticket for Almora, also in Uttaranchal, also went to a relative — to Renuka Rawat, wife of Uttaranchal Congress chief Harish Rawat. Harish won the seat in 1991.

In Andhra Pradesh, L. Raj Gopal, the son of another former Union minister, P. Upendra, is the Congress candidate from the same Vijawada seat that his father represented in Parliament.

A close aide of former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao has found favour with the party leadership in Orissa.

Pinaki Mishra, a nephew of former Chief Justice of India Ranganath Mishra, is the party nominee from Puri.