Chidambaram paying for his misdeeds: BJP

The BJP on Wednesday took a jibe at Congress leader P Chidambaram, mocking him as "absconding revolutionary of corruption" and saying that he was "paying for his misdeeds", as probe agencies looked for him through the day after his lawyers' attempt to get anticipatory bail for him from the Supreme Court was in vain.

With the CBI and the ED seeking his custody in a money laundering case related to INX Media, senior BJP leader and Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi called the Congress leaders an "absconding revolutionary of corruption" which, he added, had triggered a commotion in the Congress.

"Does the Congress have deep bonding with corruption?" he wondered in a tweet.

The BJP also rejected the Congress's charge of vendetta levelled against the government over the action of probe agencies against Chidambaram, saying it did not interfere in the investigation and he must face consequences for his deeds.

"If he has done something fishy, he must face consequences. Probe agencies do not work at the government's behest. They have powers to act independently," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said.

Chidambram appeared in the Congress headquarters at a press conference later in evening.

Taking a dig at the former Union minister, BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said in a tweet that Chidambaram is paying for his misdeeds.

He is a big lawyer but is unable to get bail, he said.

The Congress has strongly backed Chidambaram, with Rahul Gandhi accusing the government of using the ED, the CBI and sections of the media for his character assassination.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the party will continue to fight for truth no matter what the consequences and alleged that Chidambaram was being "hunted down".

BJP IT department head Amit Malviya took a dig at Priyanka over her support for the former Union minister.

"Priyanka Vadra's support for P Chidambaram is quite natural. After all she has the experience of standing by Robert Vadra too, who is also facing several investigations for serious economic offences," he tweeted, in a reference to cases of alleged corruption against her husband.