Countdown begins for Sanjay Nirupam’s exit; Milind Deora likely to be new Mumbai Congress Chief

It seems like all is not well in the Mumbai Congress. Anti-Nirupam camp within the party has launched an all-out war against the current Mumbai Congress Chief Sanjay Nirupam. Last month, a meeting between the senior Mumbai Congress leaders and party president Rahul Gandhi took place at the latter's residence in Delhi where the senior leaders had complained about Sanjay Nirupam to Gandhi.

After the meeting, one of the senior Congress members informed Republic TV that Chandivali MLA Naseem Khan had arranged the meeting, which was attended Ex-MP Eknath Gaikwad, Baba Siddiqui, Kripa Shankar Singh, Janardan Chandurkar, Amin Patel, Bhai Jagtap and two other senior party leaders.

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Here's a minute to minute update of the meeting: 

At the beginning of the meeting, Naseem Khan explained the current situation of Mumbai Congress to the leaders, after which he went onto discuss the problems surfacing with the president of MRCC Sanjay Nirupam.

“We are not against Sanjay Nirupam. He is hard working, but the problem with Nirupam is that he is not the face on which we can win the maximum number of seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly polls in Mumbai,” stated Naseem Khan in front of the delegation.

While senior Congress members shared their grievances related to Sanjay Nirupam with the party president, Rahul Gandhi suggested the leaders to not complain about him without giving any adequate reason. In response to Rahul Gandhi’s statement, other leaders confronted him with the current situation in Mumbai, which is clearly not working in favour of Sanjay Nirupam, as suggested by the senior members.

“Two former Mumbai Congress Chief, Krupa Shankar Singh and Janardan Chandurkar are also present here. We had never come here in the past with complaints about both of these leaders, but the current situation of Mumbai Congress has forced us to come this time. We want a young and dynamic leader as our Mumbai Chief who can take us forward and who would be acceptable to all the communities equally,” added one of the leaders.

On being questioned about their choice as the Mumbai Congress Chief, all the senior leaders unanimously took the name of former Central Minister and South Mumbai MP Milind Deora. 

According to the sources, Ashok Gehlot and Mallikarjun Kharge were also present during the meeting, suggesting that Rahul Gandhi will take a firm decision in the matter. Interestingly, it seems like the Congress' high command has made up his mind indicating that the party is in a process to do a major reshuffle within the Mumbai Congress.

As per the anti-Nirupam camp, Sanjay Nirupam will be removed from his office as the Mumbai Congress Chief very soon with Milind Deora likely to replace him.