Agitated Nirupam attacks Cong leadership

Former Mumbai Congress unit chief has alleged that the party is marred by bickering, as Sonia Gandhi loyalists have been sidelining the Rahul Gandhi loyalists after the former was reappointed as the party president. “Those who had once conspired against Rahul Gandhi are at the helms of the party affairs. Party administration has a number of leaders who were against Rahul Gandhi when he was the party chief,” an agitated Nirupam told reporters in Mumbai on Friday.

Nirupam added party workers didn't communicate with the newly-appointed senior leaders in the party’s core committee. “Before giving out tickets, I recommended a candidate for a ticket, but my recommendations were not considered at all,” he added.

Nirupam said in choosing the candidates to contest the upcoming state assembly poll, the party has made severe systematic faults, as it has failed to pitch aggressive leaders, who could match the opposition. Instead, it has given ticket to members like Baldev Khosla, who came third in the 2014 Lok Sabha poll and has been inactive in politics over the last five years. “I have been playing no role in the assembly poll process. There are a section of people who are misguiding the party head. The sooner she realises, the better its for the party,” commented the senior Congress leader.

Nirupam switched sides from the Sena and joined Congress in 2005. Since then, his rise in the party was meteoric, as he served as an MP in both houses of Parliament. He later became a close aide of former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.

However, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari termed the Nirupam’s argument as baseless, and asked him to stop spreading conspiracy theory.