Mumbai: Former Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam, on Monday, lashed out at Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge by saying that the latter suffered from 'dementia.' The disgruntled leader also held the Congress party responsible for the partition of India in 1947. 

A former MP from Maharashtra's Mumbai North-West constituency, Nirupam told ANI, “From the very beginning, Congress has believed in divide and rule... When the country became independent, it was divided into two for politics. Congress is responsible for the partition. In a crowd, their leader randomly asks about people's caste... As far as their manifesto is concerned, no one reads their manifesto. Their manifesto this time sees a great deal of influence of the Communist mindset. The way they have said they will seize people's assets and will be re-distributed... This is what PM Narendra Modi said in his speech yesterday, that to target a particular religion, they will discriminate against others. Mallikarjun Kharge suffers from dementia. How can such a person sit with an absolutely fit person like our PM and hold discussions?”

Earlier, on Friday, Nirupam urged people not to 'waste' their vote by choosing Congress and instead go with the BJP and its allies. 

“I would like to urge the voters to vote for the BJP and its allies, and not waste it (the vote) by voting for the Congress. The Congress party is like a heritage building in Mumbai, which is no longer worth staying in. Old and tired leaders are trying to save that building, but they cannot change the country's situation,” Nirupam told ANI

Nirupam was expelled by the Congress earlier this month for 'anti-party' statements, with him claiming in response that he had already resigned from the party.

Nirupam had been 'upset' for not being chosen as a candidate for the ongoing Lok Sabha polls after the Mumbai North-West constituency seat went to Congress' ally Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray's Shiv Sena.