Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, on Wednesday, announced that he has resigned from the party, minutes after filing his nomination as an independent candidate for Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh with the support of the Samajwadi Party.

Earlier today, Sibal met Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow before filing the Rajya Sabha nomination.

"I had tendered my resignation from the Congress party on May 16," he said after filing his nomination for Rajya Sabha elections in the presence of the SP chief in Lucknow.

"I have filed nomination as an independent candidate. I have always wanted to be an independent voice in the country. It is important to be an independent voice. While staying in Opposition we want to create an alliance so that we can oppose the Narendra Modi government," he added.

The veteran leader refrained from commenting anything on the Congress and said it was not easy to end a relationship of more than 30 years.

"I will not say anything about Congress. I have resigned, so it is not appropriate for me to say anything about Congress. It is not easy to leave a relationship of 30-31 years," Sibal said.

Meanwhile, SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav confirmed the party’s support for former Congress leader and said, “Today Kapil Sibal filed nomination. He is going to Rajya Sabha with SP’s support. Two more people can go to the House. Kapil Sibal is a senior lawyer. He has presented his opinions well in the Parliament. We hope he’ll present opinions of both SP as well as himself”.

Speculation has recently been rife that the senior leader might join the Akhilesh Yadav-led party.

The Rajya Sabha elections slated to be held next month will include 11 seats of the upper house from Uttar Pradesh.

Sibal, one of the senior leaders in the Congress, is among the "G-23", 23 disgruntled leaders who had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi in August 2020 demanding a complete overhaul of the party's leadership and organisation.

Image source: PTI