Karti’s arrest triggers verbal jousting between BJP, Cong

The arrest of senior Congress leader P Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram has led to a political slugfest between the Congress and the BJP. While the Congress accused the BJP-led Government of indulging in "political vendetta" and using the arrest as a "tactic" to divert attention from banking and other scams, ruling side BJP rejected the charge, saying there was no interference from the Government and the law was taking its own course.

A band of Congress leaders, including Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Singhvi, came out in support of Karti Chidambaram, sharply criticising his arrest.

AICC chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said it was a classic diversionary tactic to hide "corruption scams, mal-Governance and mal-administration that have marred this Government". "The Congress party will not be deterred by the unleashing of vendetta against P Chidambaram or his family. We will continue to speak the truth. We will continue to expose the (Narendra) Modi Government's corruption and continue to hold them accountable to the people of the country," Surjewala said at AICC briefing.

Countering the charge, Law Minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said there was no interference from the Government and that the law must take its course. He said the nature of evidence available against the offender must speak for itself and not the claim of revenge. "I will only make one observation. When such issues are raised, what is important is that the nature of evidence available against the offender must speak for itself and not the alibi of vendetta," Prasad said briefing the media.

"The law is taking its course. The law must take its course. The CBI will explain all the details. We do not wish to interfere. There is no interference of the Government," he said.

Senior Congress leader Sibal termed the arrest "malafide" and claimed that it was done to harass P Chidambaram. "This is complete vendetta politics. This is completely malafide," he said.

He said the government was seeking "political vendetta" to mask the "culture of colossal corruption and cronyism" flourishing unchecked and the "puppet CBI and ED" were being used to "divert, deflect and distract" attention from scams worth Rs 31,691 crore exposed in the last 10 days.

Congress spokesperson Singhvi said Karti Chidambaram's arrest showed the government's "double standards". While Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya were not stopped from fleeing the country, Karti Chidambaram was arrested after he returned from a foreign tour, he said.

Singhvi also questioned the timing of the arrest, wondering if it had anything to do with the upcoming Karnataka Assembly election and whether it was aimed at deflecting attention from the Nirav Modi case.