Rahul Gandhi's Mumbai rally forces Milind Deora, Nirupam patch-up

Milind Deora and Sanjay Nirupam at Mumbai Congress at Mumbai Congress office

Two days ahead of Congress president Rahul Gandhi's election campaign rally in Mumbai, the infighting in the city unit of the party seems to have taken a backseat with former union minister and senior leader Milind Deora offering an olive branch to city president Sanjay Nirupam.

"Collaboration over conflict, discussion over debate is important to ensure that we lead a powerful, united campaign," Deora tweeted after meeting Nirupam on Tuesday. "I look forward to working closely with him," he wrote, adding that there was more that united them than divided them.

On Tuesday, Deora held a meeting of his supporters in the presence of Opposition leader in the Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, who is also a member of the screening committee for the Lok Sabha elections. He then led the group for a meeting with Nirupam at the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee office.

Deora and his supporters have been demanding the ouster of Nirupam but the party high-command has asked the dissidents to work for the party in the forthcoming elections. The former south Mumbai MP had asked the party to replace him in the Lok Sabha polls from the prestigious constituency.

His supporters, Eknath Gaikwad, Amin Patel, Varsha Gaikwad, Janardan Chandurkar and Naseem Khan had gathered at Deora's office. Congress legislator Sunil Kedar (Saoner) was also there.

Deora said he had requested everyone to work alongside Nirupam to ensure Rahul's rally was a grand success. The former MP's office said he would visit the BKC ground on Wednesday to oversee preparations of the rally.

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