Congress Asks Sanjay Nirupam To Restrain From Fuelling Conspiracy Theories

Hours after former Mumbai unit chief Sanjay Nirupam launched a vitriolic attack at his party for not giving a ticket to a candidate of his choice for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly polls, the Congress has asked him to stop fuelling conspiracy theories. Party spokesperson Manish Tewari said that leaders, who have held top positions in the party, should realise that their statements should not help those who have brought the nation to this passe.

Tewari also asked former Haryana Congress unit president Ashok Tanwar to stop making statements against the party ahead of the assembly elections in the Haryana and Maharashtra and asked him to act responsibly.

"Mr Sanjay Nirupam would be well advised to restrain himself. It would be appropriate if he does not kite fly these conspiracy theories that are unimaginative," he told reporters.

Tewari said it is understandable that there are differences over ticket distribution and these two leaders are angry over it, but asked them to work with maturity and sagacity.

Nirupam, the former chief of Mumbai Congress, has launched a revolt against the party leadership saying that even after recommending just one name for the upcoming assembly polls, the party chose not to take his advice and rejected it. Nirupam, however, did not specify the name of the contender he was pushing for.

Congress also faces discontent in Haryana over ticket distribution ahead as the former chiefs of the party's units in the state on Thursday resigned from the election committees and deciding to stay away from the campaign respectively.

Nirupam, who joined the Congress after he quit the Shiv Sena in 2005, has also threatened to quit the party.

Sanjay Nirupam was removed as the chief of the Congress in Mumbai earlier this year and replaced by rival Milind Deora.

The infighting in the Mumbai Congress has been public since Urmila Matondkar resigned from the party last month. Then, senior leader Milind Deora indirectly blamed Nirupam, saying Matondkar had been let down by those who brought her into the party.

The Election Commission of India (EC) on September 21 announced the upcoming Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election dates. As per EC's announcement, the Assembly elections in Maharashtra will be held in a single phase on October 21, 2019. The counting of the votes will be done on October 24, 2019.