Congress to approach lukewarm Opposition

New Delhi: P. Chidambaram got his party’s backing as it decided to approach other Opposition parties for support on the issue of the “witch-hunt” agai-nst the senior MP.

At a meeting held at party treasurer Ahmed Patel’s house at 5 pm, the Congress also decided to make a spectacle of Chidambaram’s arrest by asking DPCC workers to march to home minister Amit Shah’s residence in protest.

Sources said Congress workers had been asked to assemble at AICC headquarters and outside Mr Chidambaram’s residence the moment the Supreme Court refused to hear the case on Wednesday.

The strategy was further discussed at the evening meeting which was attended by apart from Mr Patel, Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and the legal team Kapil Sibal, Vivek Tankha and others.

A senior leader told this newspaper that the party decided to speak with other Opposition parties at a protest meet against the detention of political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday.

The protest meet would be the first after the disastrous performance of the Opposition parties at the hustings in the recent Lok Sabha polls. The Congress is keen to turn this into an event of nationwide solidarity with Chidambaram. No party except the DMK of Tamil Nadu had come out in support. DMK chief M.K. Stalin said: “As regards this issue, I have clearly learnt that these (actions) are happening due to political vendetta”.