Kapil Sibal announced on Wednesday that he has resigned from his party for long, the Congress.
He did so after filing his nomination as an independent canidadate for Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh with the support of the Samajwadi Party.
Sibal, earlier today, had met Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow before filing the Rajya Sabha nomination.
“I had tendered my resignation from the Congress party on May 16,” he said after filing his nomination for Rajya Sabha elections in the presence of the SP chief in Lucknow.
“I have filed nomination as an Independent candidate. I have always wanted to be an independent voice in the country. It is important to be an independent voice. While staying in Opposition we want to create an alliance so that we can oppose the Narendra Modi government,” he added.
The veteran leader refrained from commenting anything on the Congress and said it was not easy to end a relationship of more than 30 years.
“I will not say anything about Congress. I have resigned, so it is not appropriate for me to say anything about Congress. It is not easy to leave a relationship of 30-31 years,” Sibal said.
Speaking to the media after Sibal’s nomination, the SP chief said, “Today Kapil Sibal filed nomination. He is going to Rajya Sabha with SP’s support. Two more people can go to the House. Kapil Sibal is a senior lawyer. He has presented his opinions well in the Parliament. We hope he will present opinions of both SP as well as himself.”
Notably, Sibal had represented senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan in the Supreme Court in a cheating case. Khan walked out of Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur Jail on May 20 after 27 months.
Speculation has recently been rife that the senior leader might join the Akhilesh Yadav-led party.
The Rajya Sabha elections slated to be held next month will include 11 seats of the upper house from Uttar Pradesh.
Sibal, one of the senior leaders in the Congress, is among the “G-23” leaders 23 disgruntled leaders who had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi in August 2020 demanding a complete overhaul of the party’s leadership and organisation.
