Making a dramatic appearance before the media at the AICC headquarters, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Wednesday said that he would await the verdict of the Supreme Court on his bail plea on Friday and respect the law even if applied by an "unequal hand".
Addressing the media after he failed to get a hearing in the apex court, he read out from a prepared statement expressing the hope that the investigative agencies will also respect the law.
"In the present circumstances respecting the law can mean only one thing await the decision of the honourable Supreme Court on Friday," he said.
The former Finance Minister rejected the charges against him and his son in the INX Media case and said that the FIR does not impute any wrongdoing by him and there was no chargesheet either by the CBI or ED.
Chidambaram hoped that he believes in the wisdom of judges.
"Some days ago when I spoke in Parliament, I had said that every judge in the country will uphold the liberty of the citizen. I had said that the collective conscience and the institutional memory of the court as a venerable institution will guide all judges of the country. As much as I believe in liberty, I also believe in the wisdom of our judges," he said.
"So until Friday and beyond, let us hope that the lamp of liberty will shine bright and illuminate the whole country," he said.
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At the press conference, he was flanked by senior party leaders Kapil Sibal, Singhvi, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge, Salman Khurshid, Vivek Tankha and KC Venugopal.
Dismissing reports that he was hiding from law, Chidambaram said the whole of last night and today he was working with his lawyers and preparing the petition.
He said the petition was not listed despite best efforts of his lawyers, "who are also my good friends" and said that it will be heard only on Friday. After the press conference, Chidambaram went back to his Jor Bagh residence accompanied by his lawyers who included Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Singhvi.