Sanjay Nirupam hints at quitting Congress, opts out of poll campaign

Weeks ahead of the October 21 Assembly elections in Maharashtra, former Mumbai chief of Congress Sanjay Nirupam on Thursday (October 3) announced that he would not be a part of the party’s campaign in the state.

Nirupam, also a former MP, was reportedly dejected since the party had “rejected” a potential candidate he had recommended for the state election. However, he has not mentioned the name of the candidate so far.

He said that the way he was being treated by the party’s leadership, the time to say ‘good bye’ to the party was “not far away”, reported news agency PTI.

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“It seems that the Congress Party doesn’t want my services anymore. I had recommended just one name in Mumbai for Assembly election. Heard that even that has been rejected. As I had told the leadership earlier, in that case I will not participate in poll campaign. It’s my final decision,” Nirupam tweeted.

In another tweet, he added, “I hope that the day has not yet come to say good bye to party. But the way leadership is behaving with me, it doesn’t seem far away.”

Nirupam was replaced as the city Congress chief ahead of this year’s Lok Sabha elections after a section of party leaders had complained that he functioned in a “unilateral” manner. He was replaced by former union minister Milind Deora, who resigned last month following the party’s poor show in the general elections.

Former MP Eknath Gaikwad is currently the acting president of the city unit.

(With inputs from agencies)

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