Kapil Sibal files nomination for Rajya Sabha with SP support, says will leave congress on May 16

|HT|

Kapil Sibal on Wednesday filed the nomination for Rajya Sabha with the support of the Samajwadi Party in the presence of party chief Akhilesh Yadav at the party headquarters in Uttar Pradesh. The former MHRD minister said he had resigned from the Congress on May 16 and is an independent voice. Both Akhilesh Yadav and Kapil Sibal indicated that Sibal has not joined the Samajwadi Party. “I have filed nomination as an Independent candidate. I have always wanted to be an independent voice in the country,” Sibal said adding, “On May 16, I resigned from the Congress Party.” Sibal is known to have close ties with the Yadav family as a senior advocate. Sibal had argued in January 2017 (during the Yadav family feud) at the Election Commission that Akhilesh Yadav should get the 'Bicycle' symbol. And eventually, Akhilesh got the symbol. “Kapil Sibal has just filed his nomination for Rajya Sabha with Samajwadi Party support. He is an eminent lawyer and has a political career. He had effectively put and discussed important issues in Lok Sabha, and Rajya Sabha. The country has many issues facing it and I hope that he will effectively put issues in the Rajya Sabha,” Akhilesh Yadav said. “I was a Congress leader. But not anymore. I had resigned from Congress on May 16. I am thankful to Akhilesh Yadav ji...We, many people, are coming together for 2024. We will expose the shortcomings of the central government ahead of 2024. All will put our views before the public,” Kapil Sibal said after filing the nomination. In 2021 during the Congress crisis in Punjab, Kapil Sibal had criticised the party leadership and said G-23, the group of 23 Congress who pitched for reforms as popularly known, was not Ji Huzoor-23. After he made this remark, youth Congress workers protested outside his house and vandalised his car.

The rift between Sibal and the Congress High Command became apparent on several occasions after the Ji-Huzoor episode as Sibal expressed his views that the Gandhis should step aside from the leadership role making way for a new leader.

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