NEW DELHI: Congress on Wednesday made it clear that the party is unhappy with its senior leader Kapil Sibal for representing the West Bengal government in the Saradha chit fund scam case in the Supreme Court, two days after its state unit revolted against the move and complained to the party high command about its objections.
“I fully endorse the views expressed by the West Bengal Congress,” said C P Joshi, party general secretary in-charge of the state, expressing the leadership’s disapproval of the former Union minister’s decision to appear in court for its political rival- the Trinamool Congress-led state government.
This comes after senior party leaders in Bengal refused to join a scheduled Congress rally in Kolkata on Monday in protest against Sibal taking up the case for the TMC government on the Saradha issue, when Congress was campaigning against the state government and the ruling party in the state for being linked to the scam that has hit thousands of common people.
Senior Congress leaders like Abdul Mannan and Deepa Dasmunsi were extremely vocal on why they boycotted a party rally, which even central party leader in-charge of the state C P Joshi, also skipped at the last moment. Mannan had filed the case in Supreme Court as a result of which the Apex court had ordered the CBI probe in Saradha and other chit fund scam cases.
Dasmunsi had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi last Friday asking her to intervene when word got out that Sibal was taking up the case for the Bengal government. “He (Sibal) should quit Congress if he takes up this case,” Dasmunsi had said about Sibal taking up the TMC government’s brief, adding that “this (Saradha scam) is the biggest political issue in the state, it is not just another case.”
West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, on Monday said, “Sibal is a known face of the Congress and a former Union minister. He is representing the state government in the Saradha case in the Supreme court. We feel bad.”
Joshi said he has conveyed the sentiments of the state Congress unit to the party high command.
At the AICC briefing, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said Sibal, a prominent lawyer, should take note of the sentiments of the party unit in West Bengal.
Chowdhury, a former Union minister, had said, “As long as I am the state Congress president, I can say that Sibal will not be invited to any programme of the party here.”
Asked whether he informed the party high command about this, the WBPCC president had said, “It has been communicated to the AICC leadership informally.”
West Bengal and TMC on Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking a court-monitored CBI probe in the Saradha scam, alleging that the agency was acting as an “instrument” of the Centre and targeting the TMC leaders.
TOI | Jan 22, 2015
Contact Lawyers In India : https://lawintellectindia.com/contact-us/