Nirupam to Join Shinde’s Shiv Sena

Mumbai: Former Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam is likely to join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena within the next two days. He met Chief Minister Shinde on Wednesday.

“Sanjay Nirupam will soon join the Shiv Sena,” Shinde said after chairing a meeting of Shiv Sena office-bearers. Nirupam was also present during the meeting, which Shinde described as a courtesy visit.

After the meeting, Nirupam said he discussed the future plan of action with the Maharashtra CM.

Nirupam, originally from Bihar, had started his political career with the undivided Shiv Sena. He was the editor of ‘Dophar Ka Saamana,’ the Hindi mouthpiece of the Shiv Sena. He was sent to the Rajya Sabha by the late Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray in 1996.

However, Nirupam quit the Sena in 2005 due to differences with the party leadership and joined the Congress. He won the Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat in the 2009 elections on a Congress ticket defeating BJP veteran Ram Naik by a narrow margin. However, in 2014, he faced a crushing defeat at the hands of Gopal Shetty of BJP from the same constituency.

The Congress expelled Nirupam last month for six years for “indiscipline and anti-party statements.” It is said that he wanted to contest the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha constituency on the Congress ticket in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, but the seat went to the Shiv Sena (UBT) as part of a seat-sharing agreement among MVA allies.