Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday morning met Karnataka Congress leader D K Shivakumar in Tihar jail and assured him of all support from the party, ahead of the hearing of his bail plea in a money laundering case in the Delhi High Court which is likely to take place today.
Justice Suresh Kait had reserved the order on October 17 on the leader's bail plea in which he claimed that the case was a result of political rivalry and there was not enough evidence against him.
Shivakumar, 57, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on September 3 in a money laundering case. He is lodged in Tihar jail under judicial custody.
Gandhi was accompanied by Congress general secretary Ambika Soni and Congress MP D K Suresh, who is also the brother of Shivakumar.
Talking to reporters here, Suresh said the Congress president assured Shivakumar that the party is with him and will stand in his support.
Gandhi told Shivakumar that this is a case of "political vendetta" and other Congress leaders are also being targeted like this by the BJP government at the Centre, he said.
"We have to fight them and come out of this," Suresh said, quoting the Congress president.
Shivakumar, a seven-time MLA in Karnataka, was booked along with Haumanthaiah -- an employee at Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi -- and others for alleged offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The case was based on a charge sheet filed by the Income Tax Department against them last year before a special court in Bengaluru on charges of alleged tax evasion and ''hawala'' transactions worth crores or rupees.
Earlier, Gandhi had met former finance minister P Chidambaram when he was lodged in Tihar Jail in connection with the INX Media case.
