Sanjay Nirupam Claims He Quit Congress Before Party Sacked Him

Sanjay Nirupam, the former Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MP has been expelled from Congress for six years following his resignation.

Shortly after being sacked by the Congress, former party leader Sanjay Nirupam, alleged on Thursday that the grand old party acted swiftly to expel him after receiving his resignation letter. The former President of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee has been expelled from Congress for six years.

The development followed after the former Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MP criticised the party leadership over seat-sharing discussions with Shiv Sena (UBT) ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. 

Nirupam took to his social media account and shared a screenshot of his resignation addressed to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. The former senior Congress leader wrote on X: "Looks like immediately after the party received my resignation letter last night, they decided to issue my expulsion. Good to see such promptness. Just sharing this information."

Nirupam also shared that he will give a detailed statement related to the incident today between 11:30 to 12:00. 

Nirupam’s expulsion was followed after a dispute which arose over the allocation of Mumbai’s Lok Sabha seats. Earlier, Shiv Sena (UBT) announced its candidates for several constituencies, including the Mumbai North West seat, which Nirupam was looking forward to contesting.

Following criticism from Nirupam, the Maharashtra Congress passed a resolution for Nirupam's removal from the list of star campaigners and his expulsion from the party for six years.

"Taking note of the complaints of indiscipline and anti-party statements, the Congress president has approved the expulsion of Sanjay Nirupam from the party for a period of six years with immediate effect," Congress general secretary KC Venugopal stated in a letter.

Nirupam had been aspiring to contest from Mumbai North West. However, his hopes were thwarted by Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, which fielded its candidate from the Lok Sabha seat. 

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Nirupam previously contested the Mumbai North West seat but lost to BJP’s Gopal Shetty.