Lucknow, Aug 20 (IANS): A section of Congressmen in Uttar Pradesh are up in arms against former union human resource minister Kapil Sibal as the lawyer-turned-politician has taken up cases that many here feel are "bringing bad press and publicity" for the party.

A case in point is that of former Noida chief engineer Yadav Singh in which the state government roped in Sibal to file a special leave petition in the Supreme Court to scuttle an order of the Allahabad High Court for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the case.

The second case taken up by the former union minister and bothering the state's Congressmen pertains to alleged killing of a journalist at the hands of henchmen of a state minister.

State Congress president Nirmal Khatri and Congress Legislature Party leader Pradip Mathur have spoken to senior party leaders in Delhi and the former has even written a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi on the matter, a source told IANS.

The Congress has been pushed to the margins of state politics by the ruling Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party. It has hit its lowest tally of 44 Lok Sabha MPs at the national level.

In the given cicrcumstances, Sibal's "professional pursuit" is seen as a new stumbling block in the state Congress leaders' efforts to revive the party in Uttar Pradesh.