Chidambaram being shamefully hunted down: Priyanka

Congress on Wednesday sought to project the legal troubles faced by senior leader P Chidambaram as a "shameful hunt" by the Modi government for "speaking truth to power".

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asserted that the Congress will stand by Chidambaram and continue to fight for truth irrespective of the consequences.

"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 said.

Top legal brains of the Congress such as Kapil Sibal, Salman Khurshid and Vivek Tankha were present at the Supreme Court to seek cancellation of the High Court order dismissing Chidambaram's plea for anticipatory bail in the INX media case.

Priyanka hailed Chidambaram as an extremely qualified and respected member of the Rajya Sabha who had served the nation with loyalty for decades including as Finance Minister and Home Minister.

"We stand by him and will continue to fight for the truth no matter what the consequences are," she said.

Congress chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala described Chidambaram's legal troubles as the "worst kind of virulent vendetta by Modi government and accused the BJP of running a "police state."

"Judge reserves judgement for 7 months & delivers it 72 hours before retirement, CBI/ED are sent to raid as a respected former FM is hounded. Banana Republic," Surjewala asked.