Cong trying to convert corruption into revolution: Naqvi on backing to Chidambaram

Hitting out at the Congress for strongly backing P Chidambaram in the INX Media case, Union minister and senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Thursday said the opposition party and its leadership is trying to "convert corruption into a revolution".

Senior Congress leader Chidambaram was on Wednesday night arrested by the CBI from his residence in upscale Jor Bagh amid high drama with some officers vaulting over walls to gain entry. The former finance minister's arrest came hours after he failed to get any immediate reprieve from the Supreme Court.

A host of Congress leaders have expressed solidarity with Chidambaram, with Rahul Gandhi accusing the government of playing the politics of character assassination while Priyanka Gandhi Vadra alleged he is being "hunted down" for exposing the failures of the government.

"The Congress is working with a negative mindset. They have converted corruption into a revolution. This is for the first time that corruption is becoming a revolution. Till now, revolution was against corruption, now revolution is being carried out in favour of corruption," Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told PTI.

"Law enforcement agencies will do their work and courts will do their own work. But, the Congress party and its leadership is trying to convert corruption into a revolution," he said.

The Congress on Thursday came down heavily on the BJP government over the arrest of Chidambaram, accusing it of using the CBI and the ED as "personal revenge-seeking departments".

"Over the last two days India witnessed the broad daylight murder of democracy as also the rule of law," Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.

He said that while many accused in the INX Media case have not been arrested, a senior politician has been arrested without any legal basis.

Chidambaram, 73, spent a quiet night in the CBI guest house on the ground floor of the agency headquarters after his dramatic arrest.