Nirupam, Kamat lock horns over district appointments

After a brief lull Mumbairsquos top two Congress leaders Sanjay Nirupam president and exMP Gurudas Kamat have revived the tussle between them This time they are in disagreement over the appointments in the two Lok Sabha constituencies mdash NorthEast and NorthWest mdash from where Kamat has contested polls over the past three decadesKamat is expected to contest the Lok Sabha polls from the NorthWest constituency yet again in 2019 and hence wants to have officebearers of his choiceSources in the city Congress said that Kamat wants to have his say in appointments made at the district a Lok Sabha constituency is treated as a district unit and block levels subbranches of the district units On the other hand Nirupam being chief of the city Congress wants to use his freedom of choice in helping the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee MRCC extend its units across the cityNirupam has some areas of influence in the NorthWest constituency where many of his loyalists are vying for district level postsFor Kamat these two segments are equally important because the NorthEast constituency is where he built his political career and won several Lok Sabha elections His loyalists have been demanding positions in the constituency where the Congress suffered humiliating losses in last yearrsquos Assembly pollsThey argue that Kamat can revive the partyrsquos base there with the support of the right officebearers when they are in place A Kamat loyalist Velluswamy Naidu is adhoc president of the NorthEast constituency but he will not continue as he has served multiple terms A sizable section of the Congress in this unit has switched over to the BJP in the recent pastKamat had moved out to the NorthWest segment as the NorthEast was given to the NCP under the seatsharing formula for the Lok Sabha polls in 2009 The former union minister lost the NorthWest seat last year to Shiv Senarsquos Gajanan Kirtikar Kamat is expected to contest the Lok Sabha polls from the NorthWest constituency yet again in 2019 and hence wants to have officebearers of his choiceExMLAs Rajhans Singh and Ashok Jadhav are among Kamatrsquos choices But Nirupam too has his influence areas in the NorthWest where many of his loyalists including some Muslim candidates are vying for district level posts Sources said that Nirupam was willing to concede Kamatrsquos demand only in one of the two constituencies ldquoItrsquos the presidentrsquos official right to select people in consultation with senior leadersIt may not be possible for Nirupam to meet all of Kamatrsquos demands because there are people other than Kamatrsquos supporters who also need to be encouraged to work for the partyrdquo said a senior Congress leader requesting anonymity Two months ago the MRCC team was increased to a 170member mega unitThe party had ensured that various factions in MRCC were accommodated and all religions communities and their subcastes especially Maharashtrians minorities like Christians and north Indians were given representation ahead of the 2017 civic pollsThe Kamat group which is considered to be the most powerful group in the city Congress has been at loggerheads with Nirupam over several issues The two leaders had called a truce in August this year but it is expected to end if they fail to decide issues in an amicable manner said an MRCC senior who does not belong to either the Kamat or Nirupam camp