Miffed Gurudas Kamat stays away from Congress Core Committee meet

Bhupinder Singh Hooda has been deputed by Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to resolve the differences between Nirupam and Kamat, ahead of the Mumbai civic polls next month.

Mumbai: AICC general secretary Gurudas Kamat who has been critical of Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam's style of functioning on Wednesday stayed away from the core committee meeting being held here in the presence of former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Hooda has been deputed by Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to resolve the differences between Nirupam and Kamat, ahead of the Mumbai civic polls next month.

Ex-MPs Milind Deora, Eknath Gaikwad, Priya Dutt are attending the meeting.

Sources close to Kamat said the party leader who has openly criticised Nirupam and AICC General Secretary in-charge of Maharashtra Mohan Prakash was in Udaipur.

Kamat, former Mumbai Congress President, is AICC General Secretary in-charge of Rajasthan.

Kamat had earlier slammed Nirupam and Prakash for their negative attitude and charged that the duo was "deliberately driving out" partymen at a time when Rahul Gandhi is busy with UP and other elections.

The core committee comprises ex-MPs, MLAs ,former city unit chief Kripa Shankar Singh and Janardan Chandurkar among others.

Earlier this week, Kamat had expressed his displeasure on the social media and tweeted, "Sad to see second generation Congressmen forced to leave the party due to Nirupam and Mohan Prakash's behaviour. Rahul Gandhi and Ahmed Patel must stop the bleed."

The veteran Congress leader had also tagged Ahmed Patel and Rahul Gandhi in his tweets.

Last week, Kamat had told his supporters that he was withdrawing from the campaign for Mumbai civic poll due to the attitude of Nirupam.