Removed As Mumbai Congress Chief, Sanjay Nirupam Gets Seat Of His Choice

Sanjay Nirupam had been lobbying hard to shift from the Mumbai North seat

Congress's Sanjay Nirupam, who was removed on Monday as the chief of the party's city unit, will contest parliamentary elections from the Mumbai Northwest seat.

With Milind Deora taking over as the chief of the city unit, Sanjay Nirupam now has the chance to focus on his campaign.

Mr Nirupam had been lobbying hard to shift from the Mumbai North seat, which he lost by a margin of nearly 4.5 lakh votes to the BJP's Gopal Shetty in 2014. In the Mumbai Northwest seat, he takes on Shiv Sena's Gajanan Kirtikar and has a better chance of winning.

The Congress is yet to find a candidate to take on Gopal Shetty. 

The BJP, too, is in a fix over the Mumbai Northeast seat.

Its sitting lawmaker Kirit Somaiya won the seat last time by a margin of over 3.17 lakh votes, but the party is having trouble convincing ally Shiv Sena to back him.

When the Sena had announced it would go solo in 2019 and attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Somaiya had launched a personal attack on the Thackerays. The Sena hasn't forgotten and wants to ensure his defeat at any cost.

Sources say Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has also intervened on Mr Somaiya's behalf, but the Sena has remained firm on its resolve.

BJP leaders privately concede that the Sena could make things difficult in Marathi-dominated pockets of the constituency.

There, however, is no move to drop Mr Somaiya yet. The BJP has considered alternative candidates like the state's Housing Minister Prakash Mehta. But the party is keen on giving the ticket to Mr Somaiya as he is popular in the constituency.

In the 2014 general elections, the National Democratic Alliance won all six seats in Mumbai.

This time, the Congress is trying to win back at least a couple of seats.

Milind Deora will take on Sena's Arvind Sawant in the all-important South Mumbai seat, home to some of the country's richest industrialists and individuals. This seat is turning out to be a contest, though Arvind Sawant still has an edge over Milind Deora.