In a major setback for the Congress party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Congress leader and former Union minister Milind Deora on Sunday announced his resignation from the primary membership of the party, ending his family’s 55 years of association with the party. He joined the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction.
Addressing reporters, Deora said that it was an emotional day today. “My politics, my ideology has always been about constructive politics. We believe in development-oriented politics,” he said.
Speaking to reporters after his decision, Deora said that “he is walking in the path of development”.
Deora, son of party stalwart late Murli Deora, was recently appointed the joint treasurer of the All India Congress Committee. He had expressed his dissatisfaction at the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) laying claim to the South Mumbai Lok Sabha seat.
The undivided Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant, now with the Thackeray faction, had defeated Deora in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Timing determined by PM Modi: Congress
As the resignation came on the day the Congress is to begin the east-to-west Yatra from Manipur to Mumbai, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh told PTI that the timing of it was decided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Ramesh said that Deora had spoken with him over phone this Friday and requested that he wanted to speak with Rahul Gandhi over his concerns over the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) laying claim to the South Mumbai Lok Sabha seat.
“He messaged me on Friday at 8:52 AM and then at 2:47 PM I replied, ‘Are you planning a switch?’. At 2:48 he sent a message, ‘is speaking to you not possible?’ I said I will call you and at 3:40, I spoke to him,” Ramesh said.
“He (Deora) said he is concerned that it is a sitting Shiv Sena seat, he wanted to meet Rahul Gandhi and explain to him about the seat and also wanted me to talk to Mr. Gandhi about it,” the Congress general secretary said.
“Obviously all this was a farce and he had made up his mind to leave. The timing of the announcement of his departure was clearly determined by the PM,” Ramesh alleged, as quoted by PTI.
In a post on X, Ramesh recalled his long years of association with seven-time Congress MP Murli Deora with great fondness.