'Why doesn't Congress sack Kapil Sibal too', PM Modi says

NEW DELHI: In a scathing attack on senior advocate and Congress leader Kapil Sibal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the party should sack him for urging the Supreme Court to defer hearing in the Ayodhya Ram temple dispute.

"Why doesn't the Congress also remove this lawyer leader of theirs?" he said in a pointed reference to the suspension of Mani Shankar Aiyar+ , who had sparked a political firestorm by calling the Prime Minister a "neech aadmi"+ yesterday.



Addressing a public rally in Gujarat's Kalol, PM Modi questioned why Sibal had petitioned the top court to further postpone proceedings in the Ram he should have checked the facts+ before criticising him.

Latching onto Sibal's statement, PM Modi today panned the eminent lawyer for deliberately obfuscating facts and asked him to explain why he had asked for a deferment in the first place.

"Instead of coming clear on why he wants the Ayodhya Matter to be discussed in court after 2019, this Congress leader is busy saying whose lawyer is he. He says he does not represent the Sunni Wakf Board but then he should say who is he representing," PM said.



In his plea to the Supreme Court, Sibal had cited "very serious ramifications" should the court announce its decision in the Ram temple dispute before the 2019 polls. He'd also later clarified that he'd appeared on behalf of Iqbal Ansari, an appellant in the case. Firing back at PM Modi, Sibal had said the prime minister should be more concerned about priorities before the country rather than focusing on who represents whom in court.