Kapil Sibal quits Congress, gets Samajwadi Party backing for Rajya Sabha berth

New Delhi, May 25

Days after advising the Gandhis to step aside and let another leader have a chance at Congress presidency, veteran leader Kapil Sibal on Wednesday officially quit the party and filed Rajya Sabha nomination as an Independent candidate with the backing of the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh.

“I want to be an independent voice in the Rajya Sabha and work to bring anti-BJP forces together ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” declared Sibal, a prominent minister in the erstwhile Congress-led UPA government and more recently a member of the G-23 group that rooted for reforms in the party to make it battle-ready.

Sibal (74) said he had resigned from the Congress on May 16, the day the party’s Udaipur conclave concluded. He, however, refrained from attacking the parent party today. “All Congress leaders are like my family. I had a duty to speak so long as I was in the party, but now I have moved on. I am not far away from the Congress ideology. I joined because of Rajiv ji but the fact I am leaving after 30 years says something,” said Sibal. While other G-23 members Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma have compromised with the party and landed roles in key committees announced yesterday, Sibal was left alone in the anti-Gandhi space. He is a two-term Rajya Sabha MP (first elected in 1998 with RJD support) and a two-term Lok Sabha member from Chandni Chowk.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, who accompanied Sibal for nomination filing in Lucknow, said the former minister’s “articulation against the BJP’s excesses would be of value”. Interestingly, Sibal’s bonhomie with the SP comes days after senior party leader Azam Khan, jailed for 27 months, secured bail in the case of alleged land grab in UP. Sibal was Khan’s counsel in the Supreme Court.

The RS term of Jalandhar-born Sibal, who attended Chandigarh’s St John’s School, expires in July.

5th major exit of year

• Kapil Sibal is the fifth high-profile exit from the Congress this year
• Punjab Congress ex-chief Sunil Jakhar joined the BJP on May 19
• Hardik Patel, former Gujarat Congress working president, resigned from party on May 18
• Former Union Ministers RPN Singh and Ashwani Kumar quit in Jan and Feb, respectively