Cong leader seek safe constituency
Mumbai Congress is divided into factions before the election
A major chunk of the party workers in the Mumbai Congress is set to spoil party president Sanjay Nirupam's plan to contest Lok Sabha polls from Mumbai North West — a safer constituency nurtured by late Gurudas Kamat. A delegation of Mumbai Congress leaders met general secretaries of the party and handed over a letter written to party president Rahul Gandhi on Monday in Delhi. The delegation urged Gandhi through a letter that he should not allow Nirupam to change his previous constituency — Mumbai North. They claimed it will give a wrong message in party cadres if party president will choose a safer seat in fear of defeat. After death of Kamat, several leaders from the party, including Kripashankar Singh, Baba Siddique and some more leaders, apart from Nirupam, have claimed on the Mumbai North-West seat. In a recent meeting held at the Rajeev Gandhi Bhavan, headquarter of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC), Kamat follower opposed Nirupam for his claim on Kamat’s seat.
Senior Congress leader, who did not want to be named, said, Nirupam committed atrocities on Muslim minorities when he was in the Shiv Sena and had contested the LS polls against the late Sunil Dutt in 2004.
“He had opposed Muslims tooth and nail for ‘Kurbani’ during Eid, their ‘Tajia’ during Mahurram or the processions during the Prophets birthdays. These atrocities were committed particularly in the then Amboli Assembly segment, which after delimitation has been divided into two assembly constituencies, namely Versowa and Andheri West,” said the leader.
He added that the Mumbai President changing his constituency and trying to move to a safer constituency will send a wrong message not only to the party workers but also to the public. “It will give the Opposition a beating stick
in their hand and issue on platter that the Mumbai President has run away to contest from a safe seat. This will affect the campaign in other seats in Mumbai also,” he said.