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Congress disapproves Sibal representing Mamata government in court
The Congress central
leadership has disproved senior party leader Kapil Sibal representing
the West Bengal government in a petition in the Supreme Court concerning
the CBI probe into the Saradha scam, a party leader said Wednesday.
Expressing
its anguish, the party's West Bengal unit led by its former president
Pradip Bhattacharya met the central leadership, including C.P. Joshi,
the party general secretary and in-charge of the state.
"Central
leaders, including Joshi, have asserted that the sentiments of Bengal
unit should be honoured and they have disapproved Sibal's action," said
Bhattacharya.
"We are happy that our sentiments have been
considered by the central leadership and now the misunderstanding that
was creeping in will be removed," he said.
The Congress' state
unit has been demanding Sibal's removal from the party and Monday taken
out a protest march. It also wrote to party president Sonia Gandhi and
vice-president Rahul Gandhi with its grievances.
Congress West Bengal unit president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said Sibal's decision was sending a wrong message to the people.
"Because
of this, a wrong message is being conveyed that the Congress was
cozying up to the Trinamool Congress. We had drawn the attention of
Sonia and Rahul Gandhi and if the central leadership can deter him from
reprinting the Banerjee government it will be good for us," said
Chowdhury.
Famed painter Samir Aich, who contested the Lok Sabha polls on a Congress ticket, quit the party over the issue.
Filed
by the Banerjee government and the Trinamool, the petitions seek the
intervention of the apex court alleging that the CBI was acting as an
"instrument" of the central government and targeting Trinamool leaders.
Probing
the multi-crore rupee scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation has
arrested several Trinamool leaders, including Transport Minister Madan
Mitra, and has summoned party general secretary and former railways
minister Mukul Roy for questioning.