Krishna Hegde's exit puts target on Nirupam's back

Krishna Hegde

Ahead of the upcoming BMC polls, the Mumbai Congress continues to be plagued by its own internal feuds. On Monday, the party's former MLA from Vile Parle, Krishna Hegde, switched camps and joined the BJP, prompting a disgruntled Gurudas Kamat to blame the exit on city unit president, Sanjay Nirupam.

The two have their own history to contend with as Kamat retired from politics last year, accusing the Mumbai president of ill-treatment. This time round, he recently declared that he would keep away from the selection process of party candidates. With this development, he has taken a complaint to the party high command, after which senior leader Boopinder Hooda has been asked to rush to Mumbai to give all factions a hearing on January 25.

Kamat said it was "sad to see a second generation Congressman being forced to leave due to Nirupam and Mohan Prakash's behaviour". Prakash is All India Congress general secretary in-charge of Maharashtra. He expressed himself in a series of tweets tagged to party vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

The ex-MLA said, "Nirupam is bulldozing and bullying people in the Congress. He is trying to run his own candidates in the BMC polls and does not pay attention to leaders like me," adding, "Under Nirupam's leadership the party cannot win more than 25 seats in BMC."

Nirupam, denied all allegations and said, "Hegde was given due respect in the party and yet he chose to quit."