Congress’ interim president Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh visited former Union finance minister P Chidambaram in Delhi’s Tihar Jail on Monday.
The senior Congress leader, who is in jail since September 5 in connection with the INX Media case filed by the CBI, Responding to this has said that he will be strong and brave after he met with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh in Tihar Jail .
He also said he was “honoured” that the UPA chairperson and former PM had visited him. The visit is being seen as the Congress’ complete backing for the former finance minister.
Chidambaram’s family has been tweeting on his behalf from his official Twitter handle ever since he has been in jail.
In another tweet on Monday, Chidambaram targeted the central government on the issues of unemployment, mob violence and the situation in Kashmir, without taking any names.
“Bharat mai sab achha hai. Except for unemployment, loss of existing jobs, lower wages, mob violence, lockdown in Kashmir and throwing Opposition leaders in prison,” he said.
Chidambaram’s son Karti, who also met him in jail on Monday, expressed his gratitude to Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh for visiting the former minister
It’s a big boost for us in this political fight,” he added.
Jail officers said Singh and Gandhi reached Tihar at around 7 and went directly to jail number 7 where they spoke to Chidambaram for about half an hour.
Since Chidambaram’s arrest the prison has seen many senior political leader visit the former minister in jail. Senior leaders Ahmed Patel and Ghulam Nabi Azad visited Chidambaram last week.
The former minister was sent to Tihar jail on September 5 at the end of his custodial interrogation by the CBI, which arrested him on August 21.
His first stint in Tihar was for 14 days after which the CBI court in Delhi on September 20, extended his judicial custody by two more weeks. Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar had remanded Chidambaram to custody until October 3.
Manmohan Singh, who along with Congress president Sonia Gandhi earlier in the day met Chidambaram in Tihar Jail, said no decision in the country was taken by a single person and wondered how a minister simply approving recommendations can be accused of committing a crime.
“We are concerned with continued detention in custody of our colleague P Chidambaram,” Manmohan Singh said in a statement after meeting Chidambaram.
He said in the country’s system of government, no decision can be taken by any single person and all decisions are collective decisions recorded in files.
He said a dozen officers, including six secretaries to the government, examined and recommended the proposal and Chidambaram as minister approved the unanimous recommendation.
“If the officers are not at fault, it is beyond our comprehension how the minister who simply approved the recommendation can be accused of committing an offence. If the minister is liable for approving a recommendation, the whole system of government will collapse,” he added.
“We are confident, and we sincerely hope, that the courts will render justice in this case,” the former Prime Minister said in the statement.
