New Delhi: The Congress slammed former leader Sanjay Nirupam for levelling baseless charges on the party and said his exit will have no impact in Mumbai. Nirupam, a former Mumbai unit chief and ex MP, said that the grand old party expelled him shortly after he submitted his resignation to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Nirupam alleged the Congress lacked ideology and while decision-making in the party had suffered due to five power centres at the AICC level. “He is making baseless charges just to please his new political masters. The high command had been monitoring his statements and activities for weeks and finally took the decision last night. His exit will have no impact on the party in Mumbai,” AICC secretary in charge of Maharashtra Ashish Dua told ETV Bharat.
“All those who have left the Congress recently are making the same kind of allegations. They were silent till they were getting benefits in the party but are now finding fault in party ideology,” he said. According to party insiders, Nirupam was miffed as he was eyeing a ticket from the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha seat, which has gone to Congress ally Shiv Sena UBT as part of seat-sharing.
In 2019, Nirupam had contested from the same seat on a Congress ticket but had lost to the united Shiv Sena’s Gajanan Kirtikar. This time, Shiv Sena UBT has fielded Gajanan Kirtikar’s son Amol Kirtikar as its candidate from the Mumbai North West seat. “Nirupam is miffed as he thinks that we did not fight for that seat, but there are give and takes in an alliance,” said a senior AICC functionary.
The Maharashtra in charge further slammed Nirupam for saying that five power centres operated in the AICC including party chief Kharge, former chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and general secretary organization KC Venugopal and had coteries around them. “This is a bogus charge. There are no power centres and the decision making in the party is collective. All key decisions are taken by the Congress Working Committee and all tickets are cleared by the Central Election Committee,” said Dua.
Nirupam, who had left the united Shiv Sena to join the Congress, may either join the BJP or its ally Shiv Sena Eknath Shinde, said party insiders. “Nirupam is not qualified to speak about our senior leaders. The party gave him everything, but he showed his true colours today. We believe in Lord Ram not in Nathuram (Godse). He failed to understand Nehruvian secularism,” Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad told ETV Bharat.
Party insiders said there was proper coordination among the Congress-Shiv Sena UBT and NCP SP in the western state and played down the reported differences over Sangli and Bhiwandi seats. “Talks are on, and these two seats will also be finalized soon,” a senior AICC functionary said.
Party insiders cited the Vardha seat as an example of understanding between the Congress and the NCP SP saying that an ex-MLA from the grand old party Amar Kale was contesting from there on the ticket of the regional party to counter the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena Shinde-NCP Ajit Pawar coalition.
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Cong expels Sanjay Nirupam for 6 years, leader Says Expulsion Came After Resignation
