Senior advocate and former Union Minister Kapil Sibal who filed his nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday with the help of Samajwadi Party said "it is not easy to quit a party (Congress) after being associated with it for 30-31 years". "There is no employer-employee kind of relation in a political party. I had to take a personal decision on what I wished to do ahead. I need to raise my voice in an independent manner in the Parliament and if I am getting that opportunity, I want to take that," he told IANS.

Sibal said that he had quit the Congress on May 16, and is an independent voice. Even as he is yet to take up the membership of the Samajwadi Party, he has filed the nomination for Rajya Sabha as Independent with Samajwadi Party's support in the presence of party chief Akhilesh Yadav. On being asked about Congress leaders taking pot-shots at him since quitting the Grand Old Party, Sibal said: "I don't know who is talking what about me. But I know why I took this decision (to leave the party). Everyone has a personal opinion."