Sibal quits Congress, files RS nomination with SP’S support
Saubhadra Chatterji and Pankaj Jaiswal
NEW DELHI/ LUCKNOW: The Congress party lost its third prominent leader in less than two weeks after former Union minister and eminent lawyer Kapil Sibal, a vocal critic of the Congress high command in the recent years, announced he resigned from the party nine days ago. Gujarat state Congress’ working president Hardik Patel resigned on May 18 and former Punjab unit chief Sunil Jakhar quit on May 14.
On Wednesday, Sibal filed his nomination as an Independent candidate for a fresh term in the Rajya Sabha, supported by the Samajwadi Party. “I have filed nomination as an Independent candidate. I have always wanted to be an independent voice in the country. On May 16, I resigned from the Congress party,” he said after filing his nomination.
“...He is an eminent lawyer and has effectively raised and discussed important issues in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The country has many issues facing it and I hope he will effectively raise these in the Rajya Sabha,” SP leader and former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav said. Congress general secretary KC Venugopal was quoted by ANI as saying: “People come and go from our party.” Another senior leader who asked not to be named said Sibal’s exit would be “zero loss” for the Congress, invoking the former minister’s famous argument against the allegations of notional loss of ₹1.76 lakh crore in 2G spectrum allocation.
But Sibal, a member of the so-called G-23 grouping of 23 Congress leaders pushing for organisational and leadership change to stem the rot in the party, and who said last year that the grouping is not “Ji Huzoor-23” (his meaning was that they were not yes men) said: “I still say that we all hold to the ideology of Congress which is the ideology of an inclusive India. This is the ideology of the entire Opposition and we will move forward on the basis of that.” His
Rajya Sabha term ends on July 4.
According to people in the Congress, his primary membership of the party expired after he didn’t renew it earlier this year.
Sibal, who started his Lok Sabha career in 2004, defeating the BJP’S Smriti Irani in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk, was the HRD minister when the landmark Right to Education law, making free education a right of every child between the ages of 6 and 14, was enacted. A senior Congress leader, however, argued that “the entire credit for RTE should go to the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council.” Sibal’s tenure also saw CBSE doing away with mandatory exams till Class 8.
Sibal served as a minister during the entire 10 years’ tenure of the UPA government, shifting between several portfolios. He was also handed the telecom portfolio after A Raja was removed following the 2G scandal. As the Congress reeled under an all-round political attack, Sibal was one of the key leaders who fought back against the allegations.
Over the past two years, Sibal became a bitter critic of the Congress high command, especially Rahul Gandhi, questioning the functioning of the party amid its downfall. His public criticisms even provoked Congress president Sonia Gandhi to hit back.
Sibal’s links with the Samajwadi Party go way back. He argued in January 2017 (during the Yadav family feud) at the Election Commission that Akhilesh Yadav should get the “bicycle” symbol.
Last week, he represented senior SP leader and MLA Azam Khan in the Supreme Court, following which the apex court granted a two-week interim bail to Khan, who was in Sitapur jail for 27 months in several cases of cheating and land grabbing.
On Wednesday, Sibal, accompanied by Yadav, reached the UP Vidhan Bhavan around 12.10pm. While filing his nomination, Sibal was flanked by Yadav, SP state president Naresh Uttam Patel, SP national general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, and 10 SP MLAS.
Soon after filing his nomination for the June 10 Rajya Sabha election, from a seat in Uttar Pradesh as an Independent, albeit one backed by the Samajwadi Party, Kapil Sibal announced that he had quit the Congress on May 16. This marks the exit of one of the party’s biggest internal critics. Speaking to
Sibal confirmed that he met with party president Sonia Gandhi and that he would remain Independent.
Sunetra Choudhury, How difficult was it for you to resign from Congress?
When you’ve been almost 31 years with a political party, when you’ve seen all the ups and downs, to leave the family is not easy. Be that as it may, you have to think in terms of what contributions you can make to the polity of the country and on occasions, you have to decide to chart your own course. I have no complaints at all; the Congress party was very kind to me. I have not parted with any sense of anger or anything like that. I have always been saying that I want to be an independent voice and I will not join any other political party. It was extremely gracious of Akhilesh (Yadav) and the leadership of the Samajwadi party including Azam Khan and others to endorse my candidature as an Independent.
So you are completely ruling out joining them in the future?
I can’t. As an Independent candidate, if you join a party, you will be disqualified under the tenth schedule. So no question of joining any party.
That has been my public statement throughout.
No, I resigned on the 16th of May from the primary membership of the party. These are personal meetings, there’s nothing that I wish to share. She was very gracious and kind, that’s all that I can say.
Since August 2020, however, things had become irreparable between you and the party?
I am no longer a Congress man. Within the Congress, I could say what I felt. Outside, I have no business commenting on the past. I wish the Congress party well and wish that it rejuvenates and becomes the national force it was meant to be.
I have nothing further to say on the internal affairs of the Congress. They will settle issues themselves.
What happens to the G-23?
I am not going to comment on any of that. That matter is over... My chapter is over.
Is it true that even the Trinamool Congress offered you a Rajya Sabha seat?
These are private conversations. All I can say is that I am grateful to the Samajwadi Party for having accepted my position as an Independent member of Parliament