Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam on Thursday cautioned his party against any alliance with Shiv Sena and said it might have to face the same fate as in Uttar Pradesh.
Nirupama, former chief of the Congress’ Mumbai unit, is a vocal opponent of any tie-up with Sena. He tweeted that Congress president Sonia Gandhi shouldn’t bow to any pressure.
“Years ago, Congress had committed mistake by joining hands with BSP [Bahujan Samaj Party] in Uttar Pradesh. It [Congress] hasn’t been able to recover from that failure. We are committing the same mistake in Maharashtra,” Nirupam said in a tweet in Hindi.
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Nirupam started his political career in Sena where he was the former editor of the party mouthpiece. He was sent to Rahya Sabha and went on to become deputy leader of the party in the House. He left the regional party in 2005 to join Congress.
Last week, Nirupam had said that there will be political instability in Maharashtra irrespective of who forms the government in the state.
He made the comments after Arvind Sawant, the lone Sena minister the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led governnemt at the Centre, quit from the cabinet. Sawant’s resignation was seen as the final thaw in the worsening ties between Sena and BJP.
Nirupam had said that any move to get close the Sena would be disastrous and asked if the party was ready to face an election with Sena as an alliance partner.
Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Sena have been in talks over the past few weeks over forming a government in Maharashtra. Sena and BJP had fought the assembly elections together, but ended their decades-old relationship after a disagreement over sharing the chief minister’s post.
{{/usCountry}}Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Sena have been in talks over the past few weeks over forming a government in Maharashtra. Sena and BJP had fought the assembly elections together, but ended their decades-old relationship after a disagreement over sharing the chief minister’s post.
{{/usCountry}}Both Sena and Congress said on Thursday that a decision on government formation will be taken in the next few days.
A meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) was held at Sonia Gandhi’s residence on Thursday morning to discuss the contours of the alliance.
Leaders of Congress and Sharad Pawar-led NCP had met on Wednesday evening and another round of talks are scheduled for Thursday evening.