Sibal is 3rd Congress leader to quit after ‘Chintan Shivir’

Lucknow: Eminent lawyer and former Union Minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha with the support of the Samajwadi Party after announcing that he has quit the Congress. But he clarified that he has not joined the SP.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and party General Secretary Ram Gopal Yadav accompanied Sibal during his filing of nomination.
After filing his nomination, Sibal clarified that he filed the nomination as an independent candidate. He said he had quit the Congress on May 16.
“We want to form an alliance of opposition parties to oppose the Modi government. We want to create an atmosphere so that the Modi government can be defeated in 2024,” Sibal said.
“”I am no longer a Congress leader. I resigned from Congress on May 16,” he said.
Sibal also said he had made a public statement that he will not join any party and hence he has not joined the SP.
“I told Akhileshji that I want to go to the Rajya Sabha but as an independent… There are no conditions,” he said.
“I felt it was time to be in the House as an independent candidate. I have no bad feelings or complaints with Congress. Our relations are good,” he said.
“We are all constrained by the fact that we are members of political parties and we have to, therefore, abide by the discipline of the party. It is important to be an independent voice,” he said.
“Very few people get such a chance and I am thankful to Akhilesh, Shivpal (Yadav) and Azam (Khan) for this”.
He refused to comment on the Congress. “I could have raised questions on the Congress as long as I was in Congress… I don’t think it will be appropriate to comment (now).”
Sibal said, “I had been in the party for 30-3 1 years, my association is not just like that. I came into Congress due to Rajiv Gandhi and if a person leaves after 30 or 31 years then there must be some reason and a person might be feeling something.
“Sometimes such decisions have to be made, but my ideology is related to the Congress. I am not different from Congress ideology,” he said.
On Mohammad Azam Khan supporting his candidature, Sibal said that he has deep relations with the Samajwadi Party (SP) leader.
“The excesses done to Azam will be written in history. It will be written in history that up to what extent the administration had done injustice to a person. That time will come and probably I will write it,” he said.
SP leader and former Rajya Sabha member Javed Ali Khan also filed his nomination.
Nominations for biennial elections for 11 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh started on Tuesday.
As per the poll schedule, candidates can file nominations till May 31 and scrutiny of the nomination papers will be done on June 1.
The Rajya Sabha has 31 members from Uttar Pradesh. As per the party position in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance has 273 MLAs, Samajwadi Party alliance has 125, Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) and Congress have two members each and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has one member.
The BJP is set to get 7 out of the 11 seats while the SP will get three. The picture on one seat is still not clear as it is being assumed that Raghuraj Pratap Singh ‘Raja Bhaiyya’ led Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) may support the BJP.
The Congress and BSP may remain neutral as both the parties do not have alliance with any other party.
Sibal, a key leader from G-23, had been criticized by many after he questioned who was running the Congress as the party did not have an elected president.
Since the Udaipur Chintan Shivir of the party, Sibal is the third prominent Congress leader who has quit. Before him, former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar resigned as the Congress brainstorming camp was on. Patidar leader Hardik Patel also resigned from the party days after the Shivir. (UNI)