Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan visit Chidambaram in Tihar Didn’t use office of finance minister for personal gain: PC
Honoured that Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Dr. Manmohan Singh called on me... As long as Cong is strong and brave, I will also be strong and brave.
NEWDELHI: Former prime minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday met P Chidambaram at Tihar Jail, where he has been lodged since September 5 in connection with the INX media case.
The two Congress leaders were accompanied by Karti Chidambaram, the former finance minister’s son who is also a Lok Sabha MP.
Chidambaram, who had asked his family to tweet on his behalf, said he was honoured that the two leaders visited him.
“I am honoured that Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Dr. Manmohan Singh called on me today. As long as the Congress party is strong and brave, I will also be strong and brave,” he tweeted.
“My father and I are extremely grateful to Congress president Sonia Gandhiji and former prime minister Manmohan Singhji for visiting us today. This will give us the strength and support in this political fight,” Karti said.
The meeting lasted for the full allotted time of around half-anhour.
The party “f ull y” st ands behind Chidambaram and will fight the case politically, the people wit h knowledge o f the matter quoted Sonia Gandhi as having said during the meeting.
Chidambaram also discussed at length with Singh the corpo
P CHIDAMBARAM, Congress leader
rate tax cut and GST concessions announced by the government. The two held detailed discussions on these economic issues and their repercussions on the country’s economy, people cited above said.
Congress senior spokesperson Anand Sharma called it a “weird statement” when asked about BJP’S accusation that the Congress is “standing behind corruption”.
He said the Indian laws are clear that till the time anyone is found guilty in the court, the accused is innocent. They are only accused and they have constitutional rights to speak out and get bail, Sharma said.
“Chidambaram is a senior Congress leader, he has been a former finance minister for a long time, a former home minister of India, and Sonia Gandhi and the former prime minister went to meet him, I think no one should have objections to it,” Sharma said.
Senior Congress l eaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ahmed Patel had also met P Chidambaram at Tihar Jail last week. NEW DELHI: Congress leader P Chidambaram, arrested in the INX Media corruption case, denied in the Delhi high court on Monday that he used the office of finance minister for personal gain.
In a rejoinder to CBI’S reply on his bail plea, he said that a look out circular has already been issued against him and it is preposterous to allege that he is a flight risk and can evade the process of law.
Denying CBI charges of the present c as e bei ng a c l e ar betrayal of public trust at large, the former finance minister said that the ₹305 crore which came to INX media as foreign direct investment was well within the approval percentage of 46.216%.
“No p u b l i c f u n d s we r e involved in this case and it is not a case of bank fraud or taking money out of the country or defrauding depositors in stealing money,” he said in the reply.
Chidambaram said no credibility can be attached to Indrani Muerjea, who has turned an approver in the corruption case, since she and her husband were also being investigated by the CBI in a murder case.