Lucknow: Former Union Minister and veteran Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Wednesday said that he wanted to have an independent voice in the county. Speaking on the occasion of filing his nomination as an independent candidate to Rajya Sabha, he said that he had tendered his resignation to Congress party on May 16^th, which he travelled in the party nearly 32 years.

Leaving Congress party is painful but it is inevitable. SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav extended his support to Kapil Sibal to go for Rajya Sabha with the support of SP as an independent candidate. A vocal critic of the Congress leadership and a prominent member of the G-23 group, Sibal has been a votary of overhaul in the grand old party. As per sources, Sibal is unlikely to join the SP but will remain an associated member. Sibal was supported by the SP for his previous tenure in Rajya Sabha. His current tenure ends in July.

Earlier on Wednesday morning, after reaching Lucknow, he met SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav before proceeding to file the nomination papers for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls. UP will send 11 of the 57 members to be elected to the Upper House on June 10^th. 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, he added.