‘Congress Betrayed Me...’ Disqualified Nominee From Surat Breaks Silence After 20 Days

Kumbhani claimed that the Congress had betrayed him first in 2017, but he was silent earlier as he respects the party’s state president.

New Delhi: Suspended Congress leader Nilesh Kumbhani reappeared after 20 days of going incommunicado as his nomination for the Surat Lok Sabha seat was rejected due to discrepancies leading to a BJP candidate winning unopposed from the constituency. Kumbhani claimed that the grand old party had betrayed him first in 2017, according to PTI.  

The Surat leader said he was silent earlier as he respects the party’s state president, Shaktisinh Gohil, and the party's Rajkot Lok Sabha candidate, Paresh Dhanani.  

Talking with the reporters, Kumbhani said, "Leaders in Congress are calling me a traitor. But when my ticket for the Kamrej Assembly seat in Surat was abruptly cancelled during the 2017 assembly elections, it was the Congress which betrayed me first, not me."  

He added that he did not want to do this, but the party's five self-proclaimed leaders in Surat were angry because they neither allowed others to work nor did they themselves do anything. This upset my followers, office workers, and employees. "These leaders expressed disapproval when I used to campaign with AAP leaders here, even though AAP and Congress are members of the INDIA alliance," Kumbhani asserted.  

When asked if the sudden shift in Lok Sabha elections was supposed to be revenge on the Congress party, Kumbhani refrained from giving a giving a direct reply.  

Earlier, he had held the office of Congress corporator in the Surat Municipal Corporation. In 2022, he fought the assembly polls in Kamrej but lost to a BJP candidate.  

On April 21, Kumbhani faced rejection of his nomination form when his three proposers stated to the district returning officer that they had not signed the document. After which, the replacement candidate for Congress, Suresh Padsala, also had his nomination form rejected, effectively removing the party from the Lok Sabha competition.  

On April 22, Mukesh Dalal of the BJP was declared the winner in Surat, unopposed, as all other contenders, including one from the BSP, withdrew their nominations. AAP had previous arrangements with the Congress, so they opted out too.  

Kumbhani had been unreachable since April 22. The Congress suspended him, holding him responsible for the rejection of the nomination form and alleging his involvement in collaboration with the BJP.  

The Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat were conducted in one phase on May 7.