The Strange Ways of Kapil Sibal

After the humiliating loss in last May’s General Election, grassroot level workers of the Congress remain a demoralised lot. No, it’s not just them. Senior Congress leaders who occupied the front-bench seats in Parliament in the previous Lok Sabha—diehard Family loyalists once—seem to have lost their emotional connect with the Grand Old Party.

One of them, Kapil Sibal, went to the extent of representing West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee government in the Supreme Court in the Saradha Chit Fund case. While lawyers are free to choose their clients, Sibal’s decision has miffed Congress leaders in the state unit. The case involves cheating thousands of their savings. Most victims are from West Bengal and Odisha.

A state minister in the Mamata Banerjee government and two Trinamool lawmakers arrested in the case are currently in jail. Banerjee had alleged that the BJP regime at the Centre was using the CBI to settle political scores. Congress leaders in Kolkata have described Sibal’s action as ‘shameless’.

Kapil SibalMamata BanerjeeTMCWest Bengal