- Saturday, May 18, 2024
The 47-year-old Milind Deora, who had served as India’s junior minister between 2011 and 2014, said the Congress “was no longer the party it used to be”.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA’S main opposition Indian National Congress received a major blow on Sunday (14), the same day its leader Rahul Gandhi launched another major cross-country outreach programme as one of its senior leaders and a former federal minister Milind Deora quit the party and joined the Shiv Sena in the western state of Maharashtra.
The Sena, led by the state’s chief minister’s Eknath Shinde, is an ally of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The 47-year-old Deora, who had served as India’s junior minister between 2011 and 2014, said the Congress “was no longer the party it used to be”.
Read: India’s opposition alliance INDIA picks a face to lead & it’s not Rahul Gandhi
Son of India’s former petroleum minister Murli Deora, the western-educated Milind Deora posted on X saying, “Today marks the conclusion of a significant chapter in my political journey. I have tendered my resignation from the primary membership of @INCIndia, ending my family’s 55-year relations with the party. I am grateful to all leaders, colleagues & Karyakartas for their unwavering support over the years.”
Read: Boost for Modi’s election chances as India predicts 7.3% growth in 2023-24
A number of other Congress leaders from south Mumbai, where he lives, also joined the Sena in the presence of Shinde.
Political analysts said Deora was not happy about the possibility of his parliamentary seat South Mumbai going to Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), an ally of the Congress in the state. Speculation was rife over Deora joining Shinde’s Sena as a rift intensified between Sena (UBT) and the Congress over the Mumbai South constituency where the former Congress leader lost in the 2014 and 2019 general elections after winning in 2004 and 2009.
After quitting the Grand Old Party, Deora visited Mumbai’s Siddhi Vinayak Temple and paid tribute to Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray at his statue in Colaba, Mumbai. In the afternoon, he met Shinde at the latter’s bungalow and donned the new party’s saffron scarf that he was presented with, along with the flag.
Meanwhile, the Congress downplayed Deora’s exit saying the episode was staged to divert the focus from Gandhi’s east-west Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra (Unite India Justice March) which was flagged off from the violence-hit north-western state of Manipur on Sunday. Gandhi had covered the south-north stretch of India with his Bharat Jodo Yatra (Unite India March) between September 2022 and January 2023.
Jairam Ramesh, a top official of the Congress and parliamentarian said Deora’s resignation would have no impact on the party and if one of them went, millions of others would join the party.
Pawan Khera, another senior Congress leader targeted the BJP over Deora’s remark saying whenever the saffron party gets nervous whenever they start a yatra and hatch some conspiracy.
This is not the first time that sons of late Congress leaders have left the party. Before this, Jyotiraditya Scindia, son of late Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia, and Jitin Prasada, son of late leader Jitendra Prasada, also left.
