Mumbai Congress leader against contesting civic polls with Thackeray cousins

Former president of the Mumbai Congress Bhai Jagtap said here on Wednesday that the Congress party would not fight the forthcoming Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections together with the Thackeray cousins, even as the Election Commission of India (ECI) is preparing to conduct local civic body polls across Maharashtra.

Bhai Jagtap is known as a loyal leader of the Congress for many years besides being a former president of the Mumbai Congress. His statement that won’t fight with the Thackeray cousins is being taken seriously in the party as he is known to command respect in a large section of the Mumbai Congress.

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Speaking on the sidelines of a Congress meeting , the Congress leader said, “Let alone Raj Thackeray, in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections, we will not fight even with Uddhav Thackeray. When I was the president of Mumbai Congress, I had said this. I said the same thing to Congress party’s Maharashtra incharge Ramesh Chennithala during a meeting of our political affairs committee.”

“These are local body elections which are for party workers, not leaders. The Congress workers, who have been carrying the party flag on their shoulders for the past several years, want to fight elections on their own strength at some point. We are local Congress workers in Mumbai, we will fight on our own in Mumbai,” he added.

He noted that so far, the Congress has never said ‘We will take Raj Thackeray with us’. Therefore, the decision to contest the Mumbai Municipal Corporation with a weaker party should be left to local Congress workers. “Local Congress workers do not want to contest the elections together with the Thackeray cousins,” the Mumbai Congress leader said.

Echoing similar views, Congress media cell chief Sachin Sawant said, “We expressed our views during a meeting with senior party’s Maharashtra incharge Chennithala. Chennithala listened to each Congressman and noted our contention that the party has fundamental differences with Raj Thackeray and his MNS. As far as the forthcoming local civic body elections are concerned, senior leaders take decisions after discussing with local Congress leaders. The Congress high command will discuss this with everyone and take a final decision.”

Significantly, it may be recalled that on Thursday, October 7, Congress Maharashtra state unit chief Harshwardhan Sapkal had expressed his reservations about including the Raj Thackeray-led MNS in the Congress-led opposition MVA alliance and said, “Negotiations (on alliances for the local civic body elections) will be held at the local level. Thereafter, our local leadership at the district, block and municipal levels will take decisions. We have left all these matters to their discretion. Congress and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) do not need another new constituent.”

On October 13, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut told media persons that his party was in talks with top leaders of the Congress to explore the possibility of including Raj Thackeray and his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in the Congress-led MVA to fight the forthcoming civic polls in Maharashtra.