Sanjay Nirupam: I have mandate from Delhi to revive Mumbai Congress

As Rahul Gandhi visits Mumbai during probably the Congressrsquos darkest hour in the state all eyes are on Sanjay NirupamThe Mumbai Congress chief is in the eye of a storm following middayrsquos reports about the party mouthpiece carrying strong articles critical of Jawaharlal Nehru Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi Adding to Nirupamrsquos misery is the recent infighting with party leaders coming to blows days ahead of Gandhirsquos visitThe midday report that landed Sanjay Nirupam editor of Congress Darshan in a soupAmid all the chaos Nirupam has quietly gone about planning Gandhirsquos visit which is expected to kickstart the yearlong build up to the February 2017 BMC elections in the cityIn this exclusive interview to midday Nirupam speaks about the controversies and challenges in the months ahead He brushed aside the appalling showing of the Congress in recent elections saying it was due to the partyrsquos bad image and had nothing to do with him Firmly believing that he has the party high commandrsquos backing despite calls for his head he has one answer for detractors ldquoI am here to stayrdquoExcerptsQ The partyrsquos disciplinary committee has issued a notice to you following the Congress Darshan fiasco and people are demanding your sackingA The partyrsquos senior leadership has taken a decision to appoint me as president and till the time I am allowed to work I will work I am not bothered about all thisQ But too many controversies have happened in the past few days including the fracas inside the Congress office What disciplinary action are you going to take against errant leadersA Whatever is happening our high command and leadership is well aware and they will take appropriate action I wonrsquot comment on it My job is to take everybody on board and I am trying to take everybody on board My target is the BMC election as a city president and I want to win the electionQ But the party is in the doldrums You yourself lost the elections despite being one of the most visible Members of Parliament And with the Congress getting wiped out in Mumbai in the Lok Sabha elections why do you think people will vote for you in the BMC electionsA As far as my work is considered it is unbeatable nobody can challenge that Nobody can compete with me Yes something that went wrong in the LS polls I donrsquot know what but there was a mood among the people against the Congress party they wanted to defeat us at any cost In the whole process the BJP came up Narendra Modi came up as a face and he made tall promiseshellip promises that cannot be fulfilled But in the mood to defeat the Congress party people believed in Modi Finally after one and a half years the people are repenting Basically Modi mobilised the people against the Congress partyQ Though the party is beginning to become more visible many have spoken out against you saying this is not how the Congress works Are you bringing in Sena style of politics into the CongressA In the last 10 months I have brought the party on to the streets We have always hit the streets whenever there is any issue concerning the people That is primarily the job of the opposition party We are nowhere in power now we are in the opposition It is our job to raise issue I am not carrying out any violent protests While I was doing all this everyone should have come on board in the interest of party but if someone is not agreeing with this and there is a dispute with the approach of the Mumbai Congress president then thatrsquos a different thing But I have the mandate from Delhi to revive Mumbai Congress and that is what I am doing reviving the party in every nook and cornerQ As Mumbai president your biggest test will be the BMC elections What is your strategyA As far as BMC elections are concerned this time I hope we will make it All the problems Mumbaikars face are supposed to be solved by the BMC mdash be it water gutter school or road The SenaBJP combine has been in power for the last 22 years but they cannot give water for 24 hours Even birth certificates and death certificates cannot be procured without paying a bribe Mumbaikars are fed up and I understand their pain On that basis I will carry out aggressive campaign against the SenaBJP and I have a plan for it I have a vision document and I know how to win electionsQ You claim you want to win BMC elections and do good for people but when the open space policy was passed on Wednesday despite a whip issued most of your corporators remained absent Do you have any controlA I had taken a press conference a month ago and I had said we oppose the open space policy Our stand is clear But when open space policy came up and even after whip being issued corporators arenrsquot coming then I will have to take serious action I will ask my leader of the opposition in the house to give a report on who all were not present and why and if deliberately someone is becoming part of the Shiv SenaBJP conspiracy I will not tolerate it We will take action Open space policy is against Mumbaikars