Former Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam today joined Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, nearly two decades after he quit the undivided party which was his political launchpad in Mumbai.
Nirupam joined the Sena at an event attended by Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde. Chief Minister Shinde welcomed Nirupam — whom Congress had expelled for “anti-party activities” last month — into the Sena at a function. Nirupam will work as Shiv Sena deputy leader and spokesperson, Shinde announced. Notably, the Shiv Sena has a number of ‘deputy leaders’.
Nirupam, originally from Bihar, entered politics through journalism in the 1990s.
He became the editor of Mumbai-based “Dophar Ka Saamana, the Hindi mouthpiece of undivided Shiv Sena. Impressed by his work, the chief of Shiv Sena, Bal Thackeray, appointed him to the Rajya Sabha in 1996.
Nirupam became the prominent representative of the Shiv Sena while they were attempting to connect with the North Indian voters in Mumbai. Nevertheless, he faced a setback when he was requested to resign as a member of the Rajya Sabha in 2005.
Later, differences arose which led to Nirupam leaving the Sena in 2005 and then joining the Congress.
Congress appointed Nirupam as the general secretary of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee. He won the Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat in the 2009 elections, by defeating BJP veteran Ram Naik with a narrow margin in a keenly fought contest.
However, in 2014, he lost to BJP’s Gopal Shetty in the same constituency.
Nirupam resigned from his position as the president of Mumbai Congress after the party’s defeat in the 2017 elections for the Mumbai civic body.
After the 2019 Maharashtra assembly elections, Nirupm expressed his dissapointment on the creation of the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi, which included the ‘ideologically incompatible’ Congress and Shiv Sena (undivided) and was led by Uddhav Thackeray.
He slowly lost favor with the leadership of Congress, which led to his expulsion last month.
The Congress expelled Nirupam citing “indiscipline and anti-party statements’, days after he gave a “one-week ultimatum’ to the party over the Mumbai North-West seat, which he was eyeing.
Reports later claimed that Nirupam wanted to run for the Mumbai North West LS constituency on a Congress ticket during the current elections. However, the seat was allocated to Shiv Sena (UBT) as per a seat-sharing agreement with MVA allies.
With PTI Inputs
