Sanjay Nirupam look for safe seat, many upset in Congress

Mumbai: Differences within the Congress have again came to the fore over Mumbai party chief Sanjay Nirupam's plans to contest the Lok Sabha polls from the Mumbai north west. Several Congress leaders have urged party president Rahul Gandhi not to allow Mr Nirupam to contest from this constituency.

According to party sources, city Congress leaders have written a letter to Mr Gandhi, demanding that Mr Nirupam not be allowed to change his seat to Mumbai north west from his previous Mumbai north constituency. It will send a wrong signal to party cadres that the city chief wants to contest a safe seat due to the fear of losing from his own constituency, they said.

Former Union minister, late Gurudas Kamat nurtured the Mumbai north west constituency. After his death last year, several Congress leaders, including Mr Nirupam, Kripa Shankar Singh, Baba Siddiqui etc. staked claims to the seat which is considered relatively safe for the Congress. In the 2014 LS polls, Nirupam lost the election by a huge margin of more than 4.5 lakh votes against BJP’s Gopal Shetty in Mumbai north.

A senior Congress leader, on the condition of anonymity, said, “The fact that the Mumbai party chief wants to change his constituency and wants to move to a safer seat will send a wrong message not only to party workers but also to the public in general. It will give the impression that the party chief himself is not sure of winning from his own constituency and hence wants to run away to a safe seat. This will affect the party’s entire campaign in Mumbai.”