Rahul, Priyanka Gandhi Back P Chidambaram, Say He's Being Persecuted

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today joined the chorus from his party condemning the government over the case against former Union Minister P Chidambaram, who faces arrest in a corruption investigation after a court denied his request for protection from arrest. Earlier, his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had also tweeted that the senior Congress leader was being "shamefully hunted down".

"Modi's government is using the ED (Enforcement Directorate), CBI and sections of a spineless media to character assassinate Mr Chidambaram. I strongly condemn this disgraceful misuse of power," Rahul Gandhi, who quit as Congress president over the party's national election defeat, tweeted on Wednesday.

The Enforcement Directorate has put out a lookout notice for Mr Chidambaram, who is accused of facilitating, as the country's Finance Minister, a huge infusion of foreign funds into the company INX Media at the recommendation of his son Karti Chidambaram, who allegedly received kickbacks for his role. The notice means the former union minister cannot fly abroad.

Mr Chidambaram was on Tuesday denied anticipatory bail by the Delhi High Court, after which he has approached the Supreme Court for interim relief.

"An extremely qualified and respected member of the Rajya Sabha, @PChidambaram_IN ji has served our nation with loyalty for decades including as Finance Minister & Home Minister. He unhesitatingly speaks truth to power and exposes the failures of this government, but the truth is inconvenient to cowards so he is being shamefully hunted down," Priyanka Gandhi tweeted.

"We stand by him and will continue to fight for the truth no matter what the consequences are," posted the Congress general secretary on Mr Chidambaram, who has been Finance Minister and Home Minister in Congress governments.

Several Congress leaders have come out in support of Mr Chidambaram, who has not been seen since the court setback yesterday.