As Maharashtra Congress rift widens, Sanjay Nirupam hints at his exit plan

Mumbai, Oct 03: Ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections 2019, senior congress leader and former Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam on Thursday lashed out at his party for denying a party ticket to his loyalist and threatened not to campaign. He also hoped that "the day has not yet come to say goodbye''.

In two tweets, Nirupam said,''There are 36 seats in Mumbai and I had asked all senior leaders for one seat in my Lok Sabha (LS) constituency, and that I will give them one capable MLA, someone who had worked hard in last LS polls.''

''And today I got to know that they are rejecting the name I had recommended. That implies the party does not need my services, and if party does not need my services then it's better that I withdraw from the election campaign,'' he added.

His second tweet reads, "I hope that the day has not yet come to say good bye to party. But the way leadership is behaving with me, it doesn't seem far away(sic)".

Speaking to a leading daily, Nirupam believes that the party should have given the party ticket to his supporter who had worked hard for him during the Lok Sabha campaign.

On the other hand, Nirupam also wanted a party ticket for one of his loyalists from North West constituency from where unsuccessfully contested the 2014 elections and lost to Shiv Sena's Gajanan Kirtikar.

He was removed as the city Congress chief ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in March following complaints and replaced by former Union Minister Milind Deora.