After offering a battery of senior Congress leaders as lawyers to P. Chidambaram, whose bail pleas were rejected by Delhi High Court yesterday, Congress has explicitly extended the support to former Finance Minister. Congress General Secretary and daughter of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra today took to Twitter to extend support to Chidambaram on behalf of the party.
https://twitter.com/priyankagandhi/status/1164010959360466944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
She said that Chidambaram is being ‘hunted down’ because he ‘unhesitatingly speaks truth to power’ and ‘exposes failures’ of the Modi government. She added that since the truth is inconvenient, he is being ‘shamefully hunted down’. “We stand by him and will continue to fight for the truth no matter what the consequences are,” she said. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had earlier also extended support to Robert Vadra, her husband, who is also accused in various land scams and was called in for questioning by the ED on money laundering charges. Prior to Lok Sabha elections, Vadra had also given hints that he wants to join politics.
Yesterday, after the Delhi High Court rejected his bail pleas and Supreme Court refused to give an urgent hearing to his case, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram has gone into hiding. The Delhi HC judge while denying P Chidambaram an anticipatory bail made scathing remarks about his role in the INX Media Scam. “Facts of the case prima facie reveal that the petitioner is the kingpin, that is, the key conspirator in this case,” the judge observed.
Another senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal was representing Chidambaram in the Supreme Court. Sibal met Registrar (Judicial) Surya Pratap Singh and explained to him the situation and what should be done. The CJI has refused urgent hearing of the case. The SC will hear the case today.
A 6-member CBI team arrived at Chidambaram’s Jorbagh residence only to find that he is missing. After CBI, the Enforcement Directorate had also reached Chidambaram’s defence colony residence. However, after spending an hour at his posh residence, the CBI left.
P Chidambaram is accused in the INX Media scam which involves charges of bribery and lobbying in granting foreign investments worth over Rs 300 crores to INX Media. INX Media was later known as NewsX, it was owned by Peter and Indrani Mukherjee of the sensational Sheena Bora murder case. Chidambaram is accused of misusing his power as the finance minister to grant INX Media an FIPB clearance.
The Congress now officially stands by him.