Find a replacement for me, Milind Deora finally tells Congress

A day after ranting against the infighting in the Mumbai Congress former MP and union minister Milind Deora has told the city unit president Sanjay Nirupam that though his name has been sent for the Mumbai South Lok Sabha constituency the party should find another candidate to replace himThe development is all set to be taken up at a meeting between the partys national president Rahul Gandhi general secretary incharge of Maharashtra Mallikarjun Kharge state president Ashok Chavan and Nirupam in New Delhi The meeting is scheduled to be held tomorrow or the day after as all the partys general secretaries state presidents relevant national officebearers and Gandhi are slated to arrive from Thursday onwardsDeoras Twitter rant on Tuesday rocked political circles despite the fact that the infighting in the Congress was no secret The cold war between the leaders has come to the fore ahead of Lok Sabha polls However Deoras intention of not contesting the election from Mumbai South which he represented twice in the UPA government but lost in 2014 came as a surprise Nirupam confirmed the development Im all for an amicable solution and am looking forward to getting the issue sorted out in a day or two he told midday Deora said I have communicated my concerns to the party and dont wish to discuss this in public or through the mediaAccording to people close to the development Deora texted Nirupam a birthday wish on Wednesday and informed him of his decision to not contest the forthcoming polls because of various reasons He asked the president to find a replacement Deoras is the only name that has been recommended for the Mumbai South segment Former MP Priya Dutt is another leader who has refused to contest from North Central She too is being asked to reconsiderWhat Deora saidDeora said on Tuesday that many leaders had felt left out and were sitting at home because of infighting He said the city Congress had become a cricket pitch for sectarian politics with leaders pitted against each otherHe said the Congress was leading a powerful united campaign across India Infighting cannot and should not be allowed to threaten our base in Mumbai I appeal to all Congress leaders in Mumbai to unite as a team We owe this much to our party and to Congress president Rahul Gandhi he had tweeted Sources in the Congress said the target Deora wanted to hit at Nirupam whose ouster was demanded by some leaders recently in vainNirupam vs AllThe differences had come to the fore at the MaharashtraMumbai parliamentary board meeting which had recommended Lok Sabha poll candidates Deora and many other senior leaders suggested that Nirupam should be asked to retain the Mumbai North constituency instead of shifting his candidature to the neighbouring NorthWest Deora has been a frontrunner for the presidents position Supporters of the late Gurudas Kamat senior leaders Kripashankar Singh Naseem Khan Amin Patel Bhai Jagtap and many others are lobbying for a change of guardBut the antiNirupam campaign has not succeeded yet because the citys Congress chief and his supporters have been pitching for his continuation as a reward for keeping the Congress working on the streets and projecting the party as a principal opposition to BJP whereas other senior leaders did not do much Nirupam is seen everywhere charging against the BJP He took up the leadership when the party was in tatters and the seniors who are claiming their share did not come forward to strengthen the party said a trusted aide of NirupamOptions for high commandAccording to some Congress leaders if Nirupam is not replaced then the city Congress may have some working presidents so that the warring groups are accommodated in the hierarchy Changing leadership just two months before the elections isnt a good idea The high command knows how to end this infighting a leader saidCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates