Why UP Congress leaders are upset with Kapil Sibal

Uttar Pradesh Congress Legislature Party leader Pradeep Mathur has shot off a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi seeking her intervention. Sharat Pradhan reports from Lucknow

The Uttar Pradesh leadership of the Congress party have accused senior leader Kapil Sibal of embarrassing them.

They are upset with Sibal’s appearance as a counsel to oppose issues being raised by party leaders in Lucknow. A leading advocate in the Supreme Court, Sibal appeared in the apex court on Friday to oppose a PIL seeking Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the alleged murder of Shahjahanpur based journalist Jagendra Singh.

UP Congress leaders have been demanding that the case be transferred to the CBI. Provoked by Sibal’s attitude, UP Congress Legislature Party leader Pradeep Mathur has shot off a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi seeking her intervention in the matter.

The PIL was moved after the slain scribe’s son was coerced to withdraw his petition for a CBI probe. Jagendra Singh was in June allegedly set ablaze by cops at the behest of local Samajwadi Party leader Ram Murti Verma, a minister in the Akhilesh Yadav government.  

Singh was known for running a campaign against the corrupt activities of the minister.

In his letter to the party president, Mathur has claimed that this was not the only occasion when Sibal violated the party line. Sibal had also appeared as a counsel for the UP government to oppose a CBI probe ordered by the Allahabad high court against the infamous NOIDA, Greater NOIDA and Yamuna Expressway Authority engineer-in-chief Yadav Singh, who is facing corruption charges.