“Earlier there used to be one power centre in the Congress party, but now there are five power centres in the Congress and all five have their own lobbies which keep clashing with each other.In these five centres, first is Sonia Gandhi, second is Rahul Gandhi, third is Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, fourth is Mallikarjun Kharge and last is Congress general secretary KC Venugopal ji – all of them are doing politics in their own way. In the middle of this, lakhs of workers like me find themselves stuck” Sanjay Nirupam said. Rahul Gandhi has been surrounded by people who have no connect with the grassroots, he further claimed.
“Congress is a completely scattered party now. The leaders of the party earlier used to say that party’s ideology is directionless but now they are scattered in terms of their organisation also,” Nirupam said. “The Nehruvian secularism which has no place for religion in the society has expired,” he added.
On his expulsion from Congress, Sanjay Nirupam said “In Maharashtra, the way Congress formed an alliance with Shiv Sena (UBT) on the terms set by Uddhav Thackeray’s party and they way it surrendered to Shiv Sena (UBT) and gave up seats, is the reason why I was angry. The Congress will become weak in the coming days and may get buried slowly in Mumbai.”
Nirupam said his criticism of the Congress for allowing the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) to walk away with a major chunk of seats for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections cannot be termed as an “anti-party” activity.
He said the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is a merger of three “sick units”.
‘PM Modi’s popularity still at its peak’
The expelled leader also dropped hints on his future course of action, though he did not reveal which party he would join.
“Which party I will join, I will tell you in the coming days. There is no hurry now. In India, the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is still at its peak and is continuously increasing,” Nirupam said when asked about his future plans.
There are reports that he could join with Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena.
‘They have ultimately wasted an A-4 size paper’
The former Rajya Sabha MP also took a dig at the grand old party and said they have ultimately wasted an A-4 size paper.
“At around 10.40 pm yesterday I had sent my resignation letter to Mallikarjun Kharge. I think right after that they got provoked by my expression in the resignation letter. They might have thought that it would be too much if they do not react and then they made such a decision (to expel him from the party). Hence, they (Congress) have finally wasted an A-4 size paper,” Nirupam said.
On Wednesday, Nirupam had asked the Congress not to waste its energy and stationery over him as he would himself announce his future course of action. “As the party was experiencing a “serious financial crisis”, it should utilise the stationery and energy to save itself, ” Nirupam had said alluding to the Income Tax Department’s action for tax demand from the grand old party.
Nirupam has accused the Congress of surrendering to Shiv Sena (UBT) and had given the leadership one-week time to take corrective action.
Earlier today, Nirupam took to X to share a screenshot of his resignation letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. He took a swipe at the Congress leadership over his expulsion, claiming it was done after he sent his resignation letter to the party.
Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole had on Wednesday announced that Sanjay Nirupam’s name has been removed from party’s star campaigners list. He had also said that further action would be taken against the leader for his remarks against party’s alliance with Shiv Sena (UBT).
(With inputs from agencies)