Congress loses another prominent face with Sibal's resignation, fifth big exit this year

Former union minister Kapil Sibal, who has resigned from Congress in another blow to the party, is keen to bring together opposition parties against the BJP in the next general elections.

Sibal is the fifth high-profile leader who has left Congress in the last four months. RPN Singh, Ashwani Kumar, Sunil Jakhar and Hardik Patel have also resigned from the Congress.

Sibal had sent his resignation earlier this month to Sonia Gandhi and this became known as he filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha biennial elections as an independent candidate backed by the Samajwadi Party.

A member of Congress G23, Sibal was among the leaders pushing for sweeping reforms in the party in the face of a series of debacles suffered by it. A two-time member of Lok Sabha, Sibal is at present in his second term in Rajya Sabha and is due to retire in July this year. He was with Congress for over three decades. In 2016, he was elected to the Upper House from Uttar Pradesh as a Congress candidate but with outside support including that of the Samajwadi Party (SP). Sibal filed his nomination for Rajya Sabha elections in Lucknow but did not comment on Congress.