Cong to go solo in BMC elections, decision taken at meeting in New Delhi
MUMBAI: In a major move, the Congress has decided to contest the crucial upcoming BMC elections on its own. The party leadership is of the view that going solo is necessary to safeguard the party's organisational interests, given that its position is getting weaker with every passing year. A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting held in New Delhi on May 13 where all the senior leaders from Mumbai were present, Congress insiders revealed.
The decision has come at a time when the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), another Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) ally, has expressed willingness to join hands with Thackeray's estranged cousin and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray in the interest of Maharashtra and Marathi people.
'All the party leaders in Mumbai were determined that the Congress should not think of contesting the BMC polls as part of the MVA,' revealed a senior leader privy to the development. Another senior leader is believed to have told the party bosses in the New Delhi meeting that the Congress had already started losing its voter base to its alliance partners. 'If we contest the BMC elections in alliance, we will completely lose our ground in the city,' he reportedly said.
Some leaders also expressed their unhappiness at the lower number of seats given to the Congress in Mumbai in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections last year. The party got two seats—Mumbai North and Mumbai North Central—in the Lok Sabha elections while in the assembly polls it had to be content with only 11 seats.
A Congress MLA present at the meeting confirmed the development. 'The BMC election is directly related to the roots of the organisation,' he said. 'It helps create new leadership. To strengthen the party organisation, it is vital to contest the polls on our own.' Another leader said that the party's voter base was on the decline, for which it was necessary to go alone. 'The option for a post-poll alliance with the MVA partners is always open,' he said.
The Congress' Maharashtra in-charge Ramesh Chennithala too said that the local leadership was keen on contesting the BMC polls, and a discussion had taken place in this regard. 'But first of all, I want to make it clear that the Congress will remain part of the MVA coalition though we may contest on our own,' he told Hindustan Times. 'The MVA will continue to exist.'
Chennithala admitted that the predominant feeling in the party was that it should go alone. 'This is because in the Lok Sabha elections we were given only two seats in Mumbai, of which we could win only one,' he elaborated. 'In the assembly elections too, we again got only 11 seats. It is a fact that the party leaders are very unhappy. For local elections, the views of the local leadership and local issues are always considered.'
The performance of the Congress, in the city where it was formed, has been in decline since 2007. In 2007, the party won 75 seats, which reduced to 56 in 2012 and even further to 31 in the last elections held in 2017. Of these, several former corporators have left the party and joined the ruling Shiv Sena and BJP.
Those present at the meeting were Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the opposition Rahul Gandhi, general secretary KC Venugopal, Chennithala, CWC members Chandrakant Handore, Arif Naseem Khan, city chief Varsha Gaikwad, former city president Ashok Jagtap, MLAs Amin Patel and Aslam Shaikh, former ministers Suresh Shetty and Madhu Chavan and treasurer Amarjit Singh Manhas.
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