Milind Deora asks Congress to stop ‘infighting’ in Mumbai unit

MUMBAI: An ongoing feud in the Congress’s Mumbai unit became public on Tuesday when former union minister Milind Deora expressed his unhappiness over the infighting and sought the intervention of the party leadership to quell it. He said he may not contest the Lok Sabha election in such a scenario.

The Mumbai Congress is a divided house with several party leaders not getting along with city unit chief Sanjay Nirupam, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity. The infighting is now taking a serious turn, they added.

In a series of tweets on Tuesday, Deora said he was disappointed over the infighting. “In a city like Mumbai which is our economic and cultural capital, we need to bring people together. Mumbai Congress cannot become a cricket pitch for sectarian politics, with leaders pitted against one other,” he posted.

HT learns that Deora may have conveyed his reluctance to contest the Lok Sabha election if the infighting continues. He has also warned the party’s leadership that if the problem is not fixed, it may affect the poll performance of the party. Earlier, former MP Priya Dutt opted out

of the contest citing personal reasons.

A close aide to Deora said on condition of anonymity that the former south Mumbai MP wa upset that many Congress leaders from the city are dejected and disillusioned,and also over Nirupam’s strategy of targeting the votes of particular communities instead of adopting an all-inclusive stance.

During the parliamentary board meeting last week, Deora

strongly objected to Nirupam’s candidature from Mumbai North West, according to a person familiar with the situation. Deora said that Nirupam should fight the election from his original seat, Mumbai North, instead of switching to the comparatively safer North West, the person said. “It will send out a wrong signal if the party chief runs away from his constituency,” the person quoted Deora as saying.