After expulsion, Sanjay Nirupam jabs Congress over ‘5 power centres’ in party

MUMBAI: Sanjay Nirupam, who was expelled by the Congress, launched a sharp attack on the party and its leadership on Thursday, claiming that there were now five power centres in the party and that infighting among them was hurting the party.

Nirupam, 59, also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi but declined to give a clear response to a question on the possibility of joining the Bharatiya Janata Party or the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. “I’m not in a position to say anything of this sort… I will tell you about this only after 9 April,” he said at a media interaction on Thursday.

Nirupam has been upset with the Congress after the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) declared its candidates for four out of six Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai, including the Mumbai North West seat, which he was eyeing.

On Wednesday, Sanjay Nirupam was expelled for six years for “indiscipline” and “anti-party” statements, hours after he was removed from the list of star campaigners over his remarks against the party’s Maharashtra leadership.

The former MP hit back on Thursday. “There are five power centres in the Congress. They all have their caucuses, interests, and lobbies. The first and foremost is of former president Sonia Gandhi, another is of former president Rahul Gandhi, then comes Priyanka Gandhi who exerts her own authority, then one headed by party president Mallikarjun Kharge, and the last one is of KC Venugopal, general secretary, who is involved in his own politics,” Nirupam said.

He suggested that he had suffered because he, like lakhs of Congress workers, wasn’t part of any of these power centres.

“There is infighting going on among these power centres. It is affecting the party and those meritorious leaders who are holding party units in different states. If this continues, then many things will go wrong for Congress in the coming years,” he alleged.

Asked about PM Modi he said: “Currently in India, the price of gold, age of daughters, and popularity of Modi ji are continuously on the rise; do I have to say anything more?”.

Atul Londhe Patil, chief spokesperson of Maharashtra Congress, brushed aside his statement, saying Sanjay Nirupam was mudslinging because he didn’t get a ticket. “First of all, he has been removed. Secondly, he wouldn’t have said anything against the party if he had got the election ticket from the Mumbai North West constituency. People will not believe him,” Londhe said.

Sanjay Nirupam first came into the limelight when he edited the Shiv Sena’s Hindi mouthpiece ‘Dopahar Ka Saamana’ and aggressively defended the party. Later, he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by Balasaheb Thackeray and was widely credited with helping soften the Shiv Sena’s stand towards north Indians.

Nirupam left the undivided Shiv Sena to join the Congress in May 2005. He was the Congress MP from Mumbai North constituency between 2009 and 2014.

He also headed the Mumbai Congress unit for four years and was blamed for the party’s lowest-ever tally in the civic polls before he was removed.

Nirupam was among the few Congress leaders who criticised the party’s decision to join hands with Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena to form the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi and then form the government in the state under Thackeray’s leadership.

While Nirupam is yet to spell out his stand on his next move, BJP leader Mohit Kamboj put out a video message, asking chief minister Eknath Shinde to steer clear of the Mumbai politician.

“When a person takes his garbage from his house onto the road, other residents don’t take it into their homes. They want it to be taken to the dumping ground. Similarly, Congress has thrown their garbage, Sanjay Nirupam, out of their house, and there is no need for other parties to take this garbage into their houses,” Kamboj said in a video message to his party on Thursday, reminding the leadership that Nirupam had made multiple personal attacks on PM Narendra Modi and Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. “If a party inducts him to give responsibility, then it will be an unfortunate thing,” he said.