Sanjay Nirupam was taken off the Maharashtra Congress’ roster of celebrity candidates for the Lok Sabha elections earlier in the day, and the party proposed that he face disciplinary punishment.
Days after giving the party a “one-week deadline” over the Mumbai North-West seat, the Congress on Wednesday banned Sanjay Nirupam, its former chief of the Mumbai unit, for six years. According to people close to Nirupam, he will be joining the Shiv Sena, which is headed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Nirupam is being expelled with “immediate effect,” the Congress announced in a late-night statement, citing “complaints of indiscipline and anti-party statements.”
Nirupam was taken off the Maharashtra Congress’ roster of celebrity candidates for the Lok Sabha elections earlier in the day, and the party suggested that he face disciplinary punishment.
“Nirupam won’t receive a show cause notice. Direct action will be taken against him, according to Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole.
Nirupam responded to this by saying, “Congress should not waste its time and resources on me. In any case, the party needs to put its energies into saving itself because it is in dire need of money. I’ve extended the one-week deadline and will make my announcement tomorrow, Thursday.
Nirupam intended to run from Mumbai North-West, but Amol Kirtikar was named the winner by the Shiv Sena, which is led by Congress ally Uddhav Thackeray.
The candidate for the seat has not yet been announced by the BJP-Shinde Sena combine.”The (Congress) leadership does not care about local leaders,” Nirupam had stated following the Sena (UBT) announcement of its nominee. In the past two weeks, no one has spoken to me, asked if there is another option, or inquired as to why I would like to challenge this. The Congress leadership is not looking into the injustice done to its party employees at a time when it is talking about spreading nyay (justice) to various segments of society. I would like to inform the leadership that I will hold off for a week. I have all the alternatives available to me. Nirupam ran for office from Mumbai North-West in 2019, however, he was defeated by Shinde Sena candidate Gajanan Kirtikar. In 2005, Nirupam—who had previously been a member of the Shiv Sena—joined the Congress.
