By Our Special Correspondent
Kapil Sibal , Former HRD and law minister on Wednesday joined the growing list of leaders quitting the Congress and filed his nomination for the June 10 Rajya Sabha election from the Samajwadi Party.
He filed the nomination with the support of of Samajwadi Party. Sibal said he would work to bring anti-BJP forces together to fight the Modi government in 2024 General Election.
Refusing to speak against the against the Congress, a party he has been with for three decades, he said he bears it no ill-will and is not far from the party and its ideology. The former Union minister went to the Uttar Pradesh assembly premises to file his papers with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Ram Gopal Yadav and other senior leaders by his side. A prominent member of the 'G23' grouping of leaders, which had sought an organizational overhaul in the Congress, Sibal's tenure as the party's Rajya Sabha MP ends on July 4. He said he had resigned from the Congress on May 16, a day after the Congress Udaipur Chintan Shivir ended. Sibal clarified he would remain an independent voice and will not join the SP.
"I had a deep relationship with the Congress. It was for 30-31 years. This is not a small thing. I joined the Congress with the call from Rajivji (former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi). You must be thinking, how one can go from the Congress after 31 years. There must be something… Sometimes such decisions are to be taken." He added that his ideology continues to be related with the Congress. This is a big jolt to Congress. Sibal’s exit from the Congress comes after similar exits of former law minister Ashwani Kumar, former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar and former Gujarat Congress working president Hardik Patel. Sibal refrained from commenting on the Congress saying, “When I was in the Congress I would comment on the Congress. Now that I have quit the Congress I would not like to say anything. The very fact that my over three decade long association with the Congress is ending tells you something."
We want to create an atmosphere in which we can oppose the BJP. I will personally work towards that," he said. Discussing the SP's support to Sibal, Akhilesh Yadav described him as a senior leader and a well-known lawyer.
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