Congress makes light of Kapil Sibal's resignation

New Delhi, May 25: Congress on Wednesday downplayed the exit of Kapil Sibal, who filed nomination for the Rajya Sabha as an independent supported by the Samajwadi Party from Uttar Pradesh today.

The grand old party said that its space is large in the national polity and many leaders have joined Congress of late which has not been taken note of. AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal claimed that eight former MLAs had joined the party two days ago and such developments are not getting prominence.

Responding to PTI's query on the continuing trend of leaders leaving the national party even after the 'Chintan Shivir' held in Rajasthan recently, Venugopal said Sibal did not say anything against the Congress ideology in his resignation letter.

The Congress leader refused to comment on asking whether Sibal quit Congress eyeing only a Rajya Sabha seat as the Congress has no seats in its kitty to accommodate the senior leader. KC Venugopal, however, did not offer comments on other queries like the implications for the party following Sibal's resignation.

Kapil Sibal on Wednesday said that he submitted his resignation to Congress last week. On his leaving the party, Sibal said, "I had a deep relation with the Congress. It was for 30-31 years. This is not a small thing. I joined the Congress because of Rajivji (former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi). You must be thinking, how one can go from the Congress after 31 years. There must be something (for leaving the party).. that my heart is facing. Sometimes such decisions are to be taken." "But my ideology is related to that of the Congress. I am not far away from the Congress and its ideology. I am with the sentiments of the party," he said.