Kapil Sibal quits Congress; files nomination for Rajya Sabha seat with Samajwadi Party’s support

Senior Congress leader and former union 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.

Sibal, a prominent member of the G 23 who flagged the lack of reforms in the Congress, had taken a staunch position against the party’s ruling Gandhi family and had literally walked to the point of no return by arguing publicly that Gandhis should step aside from the leadership position and enable meaningful change.

Speaking to the media after quitting the Congress Party, Sibal said it was “always difficult to move on, but everyone has to think about themselves” at some point.

“I thought the time has come for me to move on and be an independent voice in parliament. I did not want to be hanging on to the coattails of any party,” Kapil Sibal said.

“It is always difficult when you are with a party for so long and wedded to its ideology. Every person has to think for himself, whether time for him to do something different.”

He said he will work to bring all political parties on one platform to fight the BJP in the 2024 national election. But is it possible to have an opposition coalition without the Congress?

“We will try to get everybody together on a common platform. All political parties. Congress is a political party, isn’t it,” Mr Sibal replied.