In an apparent shift in its stand, Congress on Thursday said it was not pressing for immediate derecognition of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the controversial CD matter till the probe was complete.
"Not till the investigation is complete. We have not made any demand that the BJP should be immediately derecognised.
Till the probe is complete, such a demand cannot be made and it is also not proper," senior Congress leader and Union Minister Kapil Sibal said after meeting the Election Commission.
The Congress, Sibal said, had opposed the BJP's petition demanding exclusion of EC member Navin Chawla from participating in the proceedings on CD, saying it was mala fide and a diversionary tactic.
Taking a dig at the Congress' shift on BJP's de-recognition, BJP leader Ravi Shanker Prasad said, "The exuberance of the Congress is rebounding on them. Wisdom has come to them a bit late." He said the BJP's case was very simple -- that there was a reasonable likelihood of bias with Chawla's participation in the hearing of the case.