It’s Nirupam Vs Deora in Mumbai Congress

NEW DELHI: At a time when Congress president Rahul Gandhi is trying to regroup the Congress party across the country before the Lok Sabha polls, news of fresh splits is coming in from Mumbai.
Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam and senior Mumbai Congress leader Milind Deora are engaged in a war of words. Deora has lashed out at Nirupam on Tuesday in a series of tweets.

The disagreements started surfacing during the Maharashtra Congress parliamentary party meeting in Mumbai on January 29 when Nirupam showed his willingness to contest for the Lok Sabha from North West Mumbai, the seat which the late Gurudas Kamat of the Congress used to contest from. Nirupam was a party MP from North Mumbai in 2009 and lost the seat in 2014 to Gopal Shetty of the BJP. He argued that he resides in Lokhandwala which falls under North West Mumbai and after Kamat, the seat is open for a new candidate. Also, in 2009, Nirupam had expressed his willingness to contest from North West Mumbai but was given a ticket from North Mumbai.

Milind Deora proposed that everyone should contest from the seats they had contested in 2014. Deora, a two-time MP from Mumbai South, had lost his seat to Arvind Sawant of the Shiv Sena. Sources told ET that during the meeting, Deora said he would like to fight from his own seat.

“I am disappointed with what is happening and the party is aware of my stance on fighting the LS elections. However, I have full faith in our central leadership and its commitment to our party's ideology and principles. Especially in Mumbai, where the Congress was born,” Deora tweeted on Tuesday.

The matter will be taken up on February 9 when Nirupam will be in Delhi to meet Rahul Gandhi.