Mumbai: A sense of deja vu prevailed at Sanjay Nirupam's presser on Thursday. When he quit the united Shiv Sena, which sent him to the Rajya Sabha twice, he slammed the party and its politics. He then joined the Congress which made him a Lok Sabha M.P. from Mumbai north-west seat.
On Thursday he targeted the party and levelled several allegations against it. He called the Maha Vikas Aghadi as an alliance of three sick units. He claimed that he has resigned from the party, while the fact is that he was unceremoniously expelled on Wednesday for "anti-party activities."
He hinted that that he will be contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, but refused to his future plans. However, he showered praise on PM Modi for good measure. He is known to be in touch with Ashok Chavan who recently defected to the BJP from the Congress.
There are strong indications that he may join the Shiv Sena led by chief minister Eknath Shinde provided the party fields him from Mumbai north-west, where he will be pitted against Amol Kirtikar of the Shiv Sena (UBT).
Shinde is facing a piquant situation as far this seat is considered. This is because of Amol's father Gajanan Kirtikar is a member of the CM's party and is unwilling to contest the election.
A day after his expulsion, Nirupam targeted the Congress and its leadership. He alleged that Congress had a weak organisational structure and five power centres, which are having their own lobbies. This created disappointment among congress workers.
"The Congress is scattered structurally and is directionless ideologically, There used to be one power center in Congress earlier, but now there are five i.e. Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Priyanka Gandhi and K C Venugopal. All these power centers are loggerheads with each other," he observed.
He said the leadership has lost touch with ground reality and has no future. He said the party is still obsessed with Nehruvian secularism, which denied religion.
Nirupam also targeted the Shiv Sena (UBT). He said Uddhav Thackeray dubbed the BJP as Brashtachari Janata Party and at the same time he gave ticket to Amol Kirtikar who was an accused in the covid kichdi scam.
Nirupam further said " In Maharashtra the Uddhav Thackeray dictated terms to the Congress and this made me angry. At this rate the Congress will be buried slowly in the city."
