Samir Aich quits Congress over Sibal representing Bengal in court

Kolkata, Jan 21 (IANS) Famed painter Samir Aich, who contested the Lok Sabha polls on a Congress ticket, Wednesday said he has quit the party in protest against party leader Kapil Sibal representing the West Bengal government in a petition concerning the CBI probe in the Saradha chit fund scam.

The state Congress also expressed strong reservation over Sibal's move and called for the removal of the former union minister from the party.

"The state leadership has been fighting tooth and nail against the wrongdoing of the Trinamool Congress in the Saradha scam. Sibal's decision to represent the Mamata Banerjee government totally undermines our fight. So I have resigned from the party," said Aich, who unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha polls from Jadavpur.

State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has written to party president Sonia Gandhi protesting against the development and vowed not to allow Sibal to participate in any party programme in Bengal.

Aich also said Sibal's action dishonoured the efforts of party leader Abdul Mannan, who played a key role in filing the petition in which the Supreme Court eventually ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation to take up the probe into the multi-crore-rupee Saradha scam.

Filed before an apex court bench headed by Justice T.S. Thakur, the petitions by the Trinamool and the Banerjee government seek the intervention of the court, alleging that the CBI was acting as an "instrument" of the central government and was targeting Trinamool leaders.