Nirupam seeks seats for north Indians

Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam has demanded that his party should field north Indian candidates from at least 35 of the 60 constituencies in
Thane and Mumbai in the forthcoming Maharashtra assembly elections. He said that a majority of population in Mumbai and Thane was of north Indians, who had migrated either from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other states and settled there. He, however, left the final decision to party.

Nirupam, an ex-Shiv Sena man, told reporters here on Sunday that Sena, which tried to play Marathi-manus card, never succeeded in getting over 80 seats in the state. He also ruled out any threat to Congress from Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). According to him, MNS was the new incarnation of Shiv Sena and it would not pose any problem to Congress in the state. He claimed that he won the Mumbai north in recent Lok Sabha elections seat because of the performance of the Congress-led government at the centre and refused to give credit to MNS.

Earlier, in his speech at the Uttar Bharatiya Samaj convention at Mor Bhavan, Nirupam, who is the national president of the organisation, said that north Indians were united in fighting against attacks on them by MNS activists. He appealed to the north Indians in Nagpur to retaliate if any member of community was attacked in Mumbai or elsewhere. However, with reporters he quickly went back on the stance and stated that the UBS was formed to unite north Indians to maintain peace and harmony.

Nirupam expressed concern over rise in price of essential commodities. Citing example of vegetables, he said price rise was because poor storage facilities. He still claimed it would not have any impact on Congress that would form the government in the state under the leadership of chief minister Ashok Chavan. When asked whether Congress would win more seats if it went alone, Nirupam refused to comment and added that the Congress high command would soon resolve the seat sharing issue with the Nationalist Congress Party.