Following Maharashtra Congress Secretary Shehzad Poonawalla calling Congress party's presidential elections "rigged", his elder brother Tehseen Poonawalla, disowned him on 4 December. Tehseen is also associated with the Congress party.

Tehseen added that his mother, wife and him were no longer "associated with this gentleman", referring to Shehzad.

He hit out at his brother saying that he could have raised the questions "legitimately in a forum".