Differences within the Mumbai unit of the Congress have once again come to the fore with its former president Sanjay Nirupam lashing out at the party on Thursday for denying a ticket to his loyalist, and threatening to not campaign for the party during the state Assembly elections.
In two tweets, Nirupam expressed his displeasure. “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,” (sic) he tweeted. “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 (sic),” he said in his second tweet.
Nirupam wanted a party ticket for one of his loyalists from the North West constituency, from where he had fought the LS polls and lost to Shiv Sena’s Gajanan Kirtikar. Nirupam believes Congress should have given the ticket to his supporter who had worked hard for his campaign. “You need to promote workers who work hard in polls,” he said. He said he will take a final call on continuing in the party after the Assembly polls.