The Congress faces discontent in Haryana and Maharashtra over ticket distribution ahead of the Assembly polls with the former chiefs of the party’s units in Haryana and Mumbai on Thursday resigning from election committees and deciding to stay away from the campaign.
A day after protesting outside Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s residence in Delhi over alleged irregularities in ticket distribution, former Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar quit the election committees of the party.
With its party base having already eroded markedly because of the resignations by several of its sitting MLAs and leaders, the Congress in Maharashtra suffered one more jolt as its former Mumbai unit president Sanjay Nirupam, “I will sit at home and not campaign during the elections.”
Nirupam is miffed with the Congress leadership for rejecting his plea that the party should give the election ticket to at least one Muslim candidate from Versova in north-west Mumbai.
Nirupam put out a couple of tweets expressing his displeasure over the manner in which the party had treated him. “It seems the Congress party doesn’t want my services anymore. I had recommended just one name in Mumbai for Assembly election. Heard that even that has been rejected. As I had told the leadership earlier, in that case I will not participate in poll campaign. It’s my final decision,” Nirupam tweeted.
“I hope that the day has not yet come to say goodbye to party. But the way leadership is behaving with me, it doesn’t seem far away,” he said in another tweet.
Meanwhile in a letter to Sonia Gandhi, Tanwar alleged that the Congress in Haryana had turned into “Hooda Congress” as those who worked against the party’s interests in the last five years have been given prominence over those who struggled to strengthen the opposition party in the State.
“I am writing this letter with immense pain to inform you that after due consideration and exhausting all available avenues to get my voice heard. I have not been left with any other option but to resign from the responsibilities you have assigned me as member of various committees for Haryana assembly elections,” Tanwar said.
He, however, said he will continue his duties as primary member of the Congress party.