'Over My Dead Body': Kabil Sibal Rules Out Joining BJP, Asks If Jitin Will Get 'Prasada' From Saffron Party

“What is the rational basis for that except for ‘prasada’ [personal gain] politics...We see this happening around the country,” he said.

Congress leader Kapil Sibal. (File Photo/ Getty)

New Delhi: Taking potshots at Jitin Prasada for switching over to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress veteran Kapil Sibal on Thursday alleged it represented politics of 'prasada' or personal gains.

“What is the rational basis for that except for ‘prasada’ [personal gain] politics...We see this happening around the country,” he said.

Wondering why Prasada decided to join the BJP, Sibal said if the former would have left the party unhappy over the leadership’s response on the concerns raised by the letter writers then that would have been his personal choice and he was entitled to leave.

Sibal’s outburst came as Prasada along with him was a prominent member of the Congress’ group of 23 leaders who wrote to party chief Sonia Gandhi seeking organisational overhaul last year.

Responding to a poser about the reforms not being implemented so far, Sibal said it is for the top political leaders to decide, adding he has no comments to offer at this stage.

“As long as we are in the Congress and we continue to embrace its ideology, I think all 22 of us, now that we are 22, and many more who were not part of the signed document will continue to raise our issues to strengthen the Congress and where we want the party to go and be the grand old party it was,” PTI quoted Sibal as saying in an interview.

The Congress leader further said hypothetically if his party thinks of him as “dead wood” or of no utility than he may think of leaving, but would never join the BJP while asserting that such a switch could only happen “over my dead body”.

“And if they tell me at any point in time that they don't need me, I will decide what to do, but as I said I will not join the BJP...over my dead body,” he said.

The Congress leader also threw light on the defections to the BJP in the run up to the West Bengal Assembly polls.

“From Aaya Ram Gaya Ram we are into 'prasada (personal gain) politics. We saw this happening recently in West Bengal where en-masse people left the TMC and joined the BJP in the hope that they will contest on a BJP ticket and win because Amit Shah was claiming 200 plus for the BJP,” said Sibal.

“When they faced defeat, they all want to go back to the TMC,” he added.

Sibal had earlier in a tweet said the question is will Jitin Prasada get "prasada" from the BJP or is he just a 'catch' for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

“Jitin Prasada Joins BJP. The question is will he get “prasada” from BJP or is he just a ‘catch’ for UP elections? In such deals if ‘ideology’ doesn’t matter changeover is easy,” he posted.