Cong. wants Sibal to give up Babri case?

In the middle of its Karnataka campaign, the Congress top leadership is understood to have discussed the political repercussion of senior leader Kapil Sibal appearing as a lawyer for one of the petitioners in the ongoing Babri Masjid demolition case in the Supreme Court.

Mr. Sibal was not available for comment as phone calls and a text message to him went unanswered.

A senior Congress leader confirmed to The Hindu that the matter was discussed with the Rajya Sabha member, who is the advocate for Mohammed Iqbal Ansari, son of Hashim Ansari, one of the original litigants in the Ayodhya title suit.

Congress sources said the party had “advised Mr. Sibal against appearing in the Babri case”, as the BJP had used it to score political points. And he is said to have assured them of “an appropriate decision in the party’s interest”.

At the recent India Today conclave, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi admitted that during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had portrayed the “Congress as a Muslim party”.

“The BJP has managed to convince people that the Congress is a Muslim party. But the vast majority of Congressmen are Hindus and there are Muslims too in our party,” Ms. Gandhi said.