The Congress expelled Nirupam for ‘indiscipline’ on Wednesday but the fiery leader claimed he had resigned from the party before the disciplinary action was initiated. Congress had earlier dropped him as a 'star campaigner' after a row erupted over seat-sharing in Mumbai.

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Describing Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and KC Venugopal as the power centres he said, “All five have their own lobbies and clash with each other.”

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Nirupam refused to reveal his next destination but speculation is that he would join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. The former MP from Mumbai North said he would contest from the Mumbai North-West constituency this time. The refusal by the Congress to let him contest from this seat reportedly was the last straw.

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Once the blue-eyed boy of the late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, Nirupam had edited his Hindi newspaper 'Dopahar Ka Saamana'. Hailing from Bihar, he began his career with the 'Panchjanya' Hindi weekly, considered as a mouthpiece of the RSS. He then shifted to Mumbai and joined Hindi daily 'Janasatta’.

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The journalist-turned-politician subsequently became a confidante of Thackeray who nominated him to the Rajya Sabha in 1996. He was blunt in attacking the top leaders of the BJP when Atal Behari Vajpayee was the prime minister but his departure from the Shiv Sena and subsequent shift to the Congress in 2005 surprised many. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2009 while the Gandhi family also made him the Mumbai Congress president.

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But Nirupam was uncomfortable within the Congress. He had opposed the Congress' move to form a government in Maharashtra in alliance with the Shiv Sena in 2019, after Uddhav Thackeray broke his party's pact with the BJP and formed the Maha Vikas Aghadi along with the Congress and the NCP. Nirupam's isolation in the Congress began at that point and he could not revive the Mumbai fortunes of the party once led by stalwarts such as S K Patil, Rajani Patel and Murli Deora, despite the full backing of Sonia and Rahul.

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Demand for action against Nirupam grew after he castigated the state leadership for 'ceding' constituencies in Mumbai to Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray). Nirupam was aiming to contest from Mumbai North-West, and had expressed his unhappiness over the Sena (UBT) fielding Amol Kirtikar.

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On Thursday, Nirupam said his patience had snapped. “There is huge frustration in the party cadres. On the ideological front as well, Congress calls itself secular. Mahatma Gandhi believed in 'Sarva Dharma Samabhav.' All ideologies have a time limit. Nehruvian secularism, which denies religion, has ended. The unfortunate thing is the Congress isn’t willing to accept it,” he added.

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Nirupam said he would fight on. “I will fight the elections. I will fight from here. I will win from here. Those planning to write my obituary will be disappointed. I will decide the future course of action after (Chaitra) Navratri,” he said.

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In his resignation letter to Kharge, Nirupam had written: “I have finally decided to fulfil your much awaited desire and hereby announce that I choose to resign from the primary membership of All India Congress Committee.”

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