Hours after his expulsion, Sanjay Nirupam on Thursday blasted the Congress, saying the party has collapsed and there is tremendous arrogance in the central leadership. "The Congress party is a completely scattered party and the leaders of the party have also said that its ideology is directionless," he said in a press conference in Mumbai.
Sanjay Nirupam, a former Member of Parliament, was expelled from the Congress for six years for 'indiscipline' and 'anti-party statements'. He, however, shared his resignation sent late Wednesday evening.
Nirupam said there were five power centres in the Congress party 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," he said, adding that all of them are doing politics in their way.
Today, Nirupam said he was angry at the way the Congress party formed an alliance with Shiv Sena (UBT) on Shiv Sena's terms by surrendering to them under their pressure and the manner in which the party gave up seats in Maharashtra. "The Congress Party will become weak in the coming days and may get buried slowly in Mumbai."
The Congress leader praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying his popularity is still at its peak and is continuously increasing. "Which party I will join, I will tell you in the coming days. There is no hurry now."
Congress expelled Nirupam for his recent remarks targeting Maha Vikas Aghadi ally Shiv Sena (UBT). A former MP from Mumbai North, Nirupam had hit out at the state leadership of Congress after Uddhau's Sena declared its candidates for four out of six Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai, including the Mumbai North West seat, which Nirupam was eyeing.
Nirupam, former Mumbai Congress chief, had also said the party leadership shouldn't allow itself to be arm-twisted by Shiv Sena (UBT). He said accepting the Shiv Sena (UBT's) decision to unilaterally field candidates in Mumbai amounted to allowing the destruction of Congress.
A former Shivsainik, Nirupam quit Shiv Sena in 2005. In 2009, he successfully contested from Mumbai North seat. Nirupam lost the 2014 elections from the same constituency against BJP's Gopal Shetty. He is reportedly keen to contest from the Mumbai North-West constituency but Shiv Sena (UBT) played spoilsports by fielding its nominee.
(With inputs from PTI)