Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram made a dramatic appearance at the AICC headquarters on Wednesday, almost 24 hours after he was accused of “going underground” fearing arrest.

He left the premises minutes before the CBI and ED officials reached the Congress office to arrest him. The CBI maintained that it had no information of the press conference. Congress workers cleared the way for Chidambaram’s car and raised slogans against the Narendra Modi government outside the 24 Akbar Road.

Chidambaram read out a brief statement at the hurriedly convened press conference also attended senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel, KC Venugopal, Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Singhvi and Vivek Tankha.

He said he or any of his family members have not been accused of any offence in the INX Media case. “There is no charge sheet filed by either ED or CBI before a competent court,” he said.

He added that he was aghast that he was accused of hiding from the law, and he added that, on the contrary, he was seeking protection of law. “My lawyers tell that cases will be listed on Friday. I bow down to orders of the Supreme Court. I respect law even if it is applied with an unequal hand by probe agencies,” he said.

Chidambaram said much has happened in the last 24 hours that has caused concern to some and confusion to many. He said he was preparing the papers, which were presented at the Supreme Court on Wednesday. “I believe that the foundation of a democracy is liberty, most precious article of the constitution is Article 21 that guarantees life and liberty. If I’m asked to choose between life and liberty, I will choose liberty,” he said.

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Interactive by Gitanjali Diwakar

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