Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday came out in support of P Chidambaram, who is facing arrest in the INX Media case, with Rahul accusing the government of "character assassination" of the former Union Minister.
While Rahul condemned the action against Chidambaram calling it "disgraceful misuse of power", Priyanka alleged that the Congress leader was "shamefully hunted down" and vowed to "stand by him and continue to fight for the truth".
The former Congress president also slammed a section of media that he termed as "spineless" for what the alleged character assassination."Modi's government is using the ED, the CBI and sections of a spineless media to character assassinate Mr Chidambaram. I strongly condemn this disgraceful misuse of power," Rahul said on Twitter.
Congress general secretary Priyanka took to the microblogging site to say that Chidambaram was "hunted down" for speaking truth to power and exposing the failures of the government.
"An extremely qualified and respected member of the Rajya Sabha, P Chidambaram 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. We stand by him and will continue to fight for the truth no matter what the consequences are," she tweeted.
Congress party also come out in support of Chidambaram and said that it "stands by his quest for truth".
It tweeted: "A govt that persecutes its citizens for speaking truth to power is only reiterating its own cowardly nature. P Chidambaram is an extremely qualified and respected leader; he has served this nation with dedication and humility. We stand by his quest for truth no matter what."
Chidambaram is facing an investigation in the case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
A lookout notice has also been issued against the former Union Minister.
He failed to get any immediate relief from the Supreme Court which said his petition for anticipatory bail will be put before the Chief Justice for considering urgent listing.
On Tuesday, the Delhi High Court rejected his anticipatory bail plea in cases filed by the CBI and the ED. While rejecting Chidambaram's anticipatory bail, the High Court had called as a "classic case of money laundering".
( With inputs from ANI )