Days after Lok Sabha cheer, Mumbai Congress returns to fighting ways

Close on the heels of its impressive performance in Maharashtra in the recent Lok Sabha elections, infighting is back within the Mumbai Congress, with a group of senior party leaders seeking the ouster of its chief and newly-elected Mumbai North Central MP, Varsha Gaikwad.

A letter written to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge by a section of leaders, emphasising the “need to strengthen the party organisation” ahead of the Assembly polls, is being seen as a bid to corner Gaikwad, with one of the signatories claiming that the Mumbai Congress has seen an “organisational decline” under her leadership.

“Many corporators have quit and the party is witnessing a downfall in organisational strength. These are important issues that the central leadership needs to be apprised about. Hence, we have sought time from the party president,” the leader said, adding that the political action needed by the party in Mumbai was lacking.

Gaikwad, who defeated the BJP’s Ujjwal Nikam in the recent Lok Sabha polls, said she was unaware of the letter. “If anyone has issues with the party’s organisational strength in Mumbai, they must remember that I am one of the most vocal leaders and have not shied away from taking on big names. Instead of focusing on me, people must focus on contesting and winning the Assembly elections,” she said.

In the Lok Sabha elections that concluded recently, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, which includes the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (SP), secured 30 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The Congress alone won 13 seats out of the 17 seats it contested as part of the tie-up, indicating an upswing for the party.

The MVA was ahead of the NDA coalition