Mumbai, Dec 29 (PTI) The Congress's U-turn, scrapping its decision to go solo in the upcoming Mumbai civic elections just days before the deadline for filing nominations, has stunned the party's rank and
file in the city.
The grand old party, which had earlier asserted that it would contest the January 15 polls solo on all 227 wards, on Sunday joined hands with Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), allocating it 62 seats.
Apart from the VBA, the Congress has allocated 10 seats to the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh (RSP) and two to the Republican Party of India (Gavai faction), unsettling functionaries of the party's city unit, leaders said.
Senior leaders pointed out that never before has such an important decision concerning the Mumbai unit been announced by the state Congress president. The city unit president Varsha Gaikwad, however, said she is happy with the alliance and the seat pact.
The state Congress feels it is charting out an Independent political path.
For years, Congress's politics in Maharashtra remained stuck in a fixed framework, and despite being part of alliances, the party often played a secondary role, which limited its decision-making powers.
Overshadowed by NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray's influence, the party gradually lost its independent political voice. Party workers and political observers shared this feeling, a state Congress office-bearer said.
The seat-sharing arrangement with the VBA has come as a shock to the Mumbai Congress cadre, as the party has reportedly allotted more than 10 wards to the VBA in each of the six Lok Sabha constituencies.
Interestingly, many of these wards are considered BJP strongholds, prompting analysts to suggest that the Congress may have conceded these areas without a serious contest.
A senior Congress functionary claimed that sections of the city leadership had an understanding with the ruling BJP to safeguard their personal interests.
"Giving wards in the Prabhadevi-Mahim belt to the VBA is beyond comprehension. The VBA, which is making its civic poll debut, has been allotted seats in areas that have no Dalit settlements," he said.
Referring to Vile Parle, a BJP leader said the only Dalit settlement in the area has residents who are BJP and RPI workers. The Congress, he claimed, lacked candidates in most wards and had forged alliances as a face-saving measure.
"The Congress never gave so many seats to the undivided NCP when they were alliance partners. In BJP strongholds, traditional Congress votes may shift to the saffron party or even to Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS, but it will make no difference to the BJP's prospects," the leader said.
A Congress office-bearer noted that the party had even allotted Scheduled Tribe-reserved wards to the VBA despite having its own candidates, citing Ward 53, which covers the Aarey area in Goregaon.
"Established local leaders have been denied tickets in their areas of work and shifted to wards of the leadership's choosing," he said.
Another office-bearer claimed that the Congress did not have candidates in more than 40 seats and had now given away 74 seats to the VBA, RSP and RPI (Gavai).
However, Maharashtra Congress leaders said state Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal's job was to get new allies on board and not decide on the number of seats.
Mumbai Congress didn't have the required candidates in most seats, and in many other places, the city unit leaders have deliberately sidelined candidates of merit, they said.
According to party sources, Sapkal has begun efforts to take the Congress out of the mindset of being "just an alliance partner".
The coming together of Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, Sharad Pawar and nephew NCP chief Ajit Pawar for the local body polls in some parts of the state was seen as an attempt to corner the Congress. These pressure tactics within the Maha Vikas Aghadi, aimed at reducing Congress to a junior partner, were evident, they said.
The most important feature of this new political strategy is the attempt to bring together Marathas, OBCs, Dalits and the traditional Muslim voter base, which have played a decisive role in Maharashtra's progressive politics. In recent times, however, these sections have felt dissatisfied, divided and politically neglected.
The Congress's new direction seeks to give political expression to this unrest, observers said.
A party leader said that Sapkal has reminded Congress of its ideological identity by pulling it out of the shadows of alliance politics.
While this path is not easy and doesn't guarantee immediate success, the journey is necessary for long-term political rebuilding, he said.
Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said the party wishes to take along like-minded parties and strengthen secular forces, and this move may pave the way for future politics in Maharashtra. PTI MR ARU
