BMC polls: Blame game over Congress loss starts

Bringing the tussle into the open, former union minister Gurudas Kamat on Wednesday issued a press statement asking Nirupam to convene a meeting to discuss the party’s performance

The Congress lost in Mumbai miserably, but its warring leaders are yet to learn their lesson.

Senior Congress leader and former union minister Gurudas Kamat on Wednesday issued a press statement asking Sanjay Nirupam to convene a meeting to discuss the party’s performance. (File photo)

The infighting among the key Congress leaders that began before the polls continues, as senior Congress leader and former union minister Gurudas Kamat fired a fresh salvo at party colleague and Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam, asking him to explain the party’s disastrous performance in the Mumbai civic polls.

He demanded an executive meeting of the party be held to discuss that strategy it chalked out for the polls.

Bringing the tussle into the open, Kamat on Wednesday issued a press statement asking Nirupam to convene a meeting to discuss the party’s performance.

“The campaign strategy and other plans implemented for the polls should be discussed in detail. The responsibility of the party’s rout should also be fixed,” Kamat said in the statement. He alleged Nirupam has been misleading the media and the party leadership and that the AICC general secretary in-charge, Mohan Prakash, should also be present for the public debate.

Nirupam, who resigned from the post on the day of the results, was not available for comment. While ann ouncing his resignation, Nirupam had trained his guns at Kamat demanding action against party leaders who worked against the party’s interests. “I tried my level best to win maximum seats for the party, but few leaders were active with the intention of defeating me. This has badly reflected on the prospect of the party. The leaders preferred a media platform to put up their grievances instead of expressing them on the right platform within the party,” Nirupam had said without naming anybody on the day of the results.

A section of leaders had reportedly leaked the information about the distribution of the tickets on the recommendation of the key leaders. According to the information, most of the candidates recommended by senior leaders like Kamat and Priya Dutt could not win their seats.

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