Accusing the government of misusing agencies, the Congress today termed as vendetta the action against former finance minister P Chidambaram and his son who were named as accused in a charge sheet filed by the CBI in the Aircel-Maxis case.
The CBI has charged Chidambaram with criminal conspiracy and misconduct.
Asked about it, Congress' senior spokesperson Anand Sharma said it is not the first time that this government is doing such a thing but the opposition will not be deterred by such actions.
"This government is misusing its power and authority and the agencies of the State. This is the first time that we are seeing such a thing happening in the country. There are multiple agencies registering the case for the same alleged offence. The CBI registers one, then there is constant harassment, interrogation, bail, then the ED comes in with the PMLA method, then the Revenue Intelligence moves in," he told reporters.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the "kind of vendetta that Modi Government unleashes every day is extremely unfortunate".
"One of the victims of that vendetta has been the former finance minister P Chidambaram for Modi ji is blind in his rage against Congress leadership," he said.
Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said the charge sheet will meet the same fate as "other charge sheets of the CBI" and recalled the acquittals in the 2G case.
"It will meet the same fate as other chargesheets of the CBI. Remember they tried to prosecute the Maran brothers and you all know hat happened to the 2G case. This is just a way to harass people, to persecute people and it has nothing to do with the majesty of law. It is denigrating the law, this act of theirs," he said.
Sharma said there is flight of capital as agencies of the State "are engaged in this war".
"A lot of businessmen have left the country and there is 50 pc increase of Indian money in the Swiss Banks."
"These are matters which would be settled in the court of law and Shri Chidambaram has every right as a citizen to protect not just his reputation but to take recourse to justice.
"The opposition is neither deflected nor deterred by this. The opposition will continue to do what is the duty of the opposition. They have been doing it for the last four years. They have not been able to silence the opposition. Which will never happen in a democracy? We won't allow that," he said.
Sharma questioned why investigation has not started into "serious charges" against BJP ministers and chief ministers.
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