From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Former Union Minister and senior advocate Kapil Sibal (73) in the Congress governments from 2004 to 2014, who became a loner in the ginger group of G-23 he mobilised in August 2020 that wrote to Sonia Gandhi seeking organisational rejig and an active leadership, finally left the Congress and filed the Rajya Sabha nomination with the backing of the Samajwadi Party.
He was earlier speculated to get back to the Rajya Sabha from Trinamul Congress of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. It is not clear if he would be the Samajwadi Party candidate or an independent.
He found no option but to leave the Congress after prominent leaders in the group of 23 dissenters getting accommodated by Sonia Gandhi, keeping him away while talking to others.
Former Rajya Sabha Opposition leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and Rajya Sabha Congress deputy leader Anand Sharma, who provided leadership to G-23 dissenters, were only on Tuesday accommodated in the political affairs group.
AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik, a signatory as a dissenter, not only continues in his post but joined the Task Force-2024 led by former Union Minister P Chidambaram and Shashi Tharoor became part of the Central planning group for coordinating the “Bharat Jodi Yatra” from October 2 as decided in the Udaipur Chintan shivir early this month. Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, another G-23 signatory, continues as leader of Opposition in Haryana Assembly and got his man appointed as the state Congress chief recently.
Sibal, whose Rajya Sabha term ends next month, issued a statement after filing nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections on June 10 in the presence of Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, saying he want to be “an independent voice in the Rajya Sabha.”
In his statement, Sibal said: “We are all constrained by fact that we are members of parties and have to abide by the discipline of that party but it is important to have an independent voice. We want to make a coalition and oppose the Modi government. We want to create an atmosphere in which we can oppose the BJP. I will personally work towards that.”
During his Lok Sabha tenure from 2004 to 2014, Sibal handled many union minitries, including law, education and communication. At a recent press conference, he had said G-23 grouping is “not a Jee Huzur 23” as it would continue to put forth the views and continue to repeat the demands for the Congress shake-up. Most of the G-23 leaders, however, ditanced from Sibal after Azad deprecated his tone against the Gandhis.
His resignation comes close on the heels of former Punjab Congress President Sunil Jakhar and Gujarat Congress working president Hardik Patel resigning from the Congress, Jakhar in the midst of the Chintan Shivir and Hardik thereafter.
Meanwhile, shortly after Sibal filed his nomination papers, with Akhilesh Yadav by his side, Javed Ali Khan of the Samajwadi Party, whose term is also ending, filed the nomination papers for the second Rajya Sabha seat. The Samajwadi Party’s strength in the UP Assembly ensures the party can win two seats out of 11 for which the biennial elections are being held in the state.
