Updated: December 20, 2020 8:06:50 am
Ashok (Bhai) Jagtap. (Twittter @ BhaiJagtap1)
A faction-ridden Congress decided on Saturday not to project a single face ahead of the crucial 2022 civic elections to lead the party in Mumbai.
While it appointed the legislator of the acting party Ashok (Bhai) Jagtap, a Marathi face, as chairman of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC) on Saturday, the Indian Congress Committee appointed the former chairman of the Youth Congress from Mumbai and former lawmaker Charan Singh Sapra as the acting chairman of the Mumbai unit.
In addition, former Maharashtra Minority Development Minister Naseem Khan and former Minister of Public Health Suresh Shetty were appointed chairmen of the election campaign committee and the manifesto committee respectively, while the current Vice President of the Mumbai Congress , Dr. Amarjit Manhas, was appointed head of the coordinating committee. Sources confirmed that everyone was interested in running for the post of Speaker of the Mumbai Congress, which was ultimately won by Jagtap.
The new organizing model is also seen as the party’s attempt to shed factionalism within the party in the run-up to the 2022 Mumbai civic elections. It is also an attempt to achieve caste and community balance just before the civic elections. .
In another attempt to correct the caste equations, the party also created a new post on Saturday, appointing former minister Chandrakant Handore as Mumbai head of the Maharashtra Congress.
In the 2017 Mumbai civic polls, the party had fallen to its worst electoral performance in the city, managing to win just 31 seats out of 227. In fact, the party has seen a steady decline in fortunes over the past 28 years. By 1992, it had won 112 seats in alliance with the Republican Party of India (Athavale), gaining power in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Since then, the consolidation of the Hindu Marathi and non-Marathi vote in favor of the old Shiv Sena-BJP alliance and infighting within their own camp has caused the influence of Congress and the vote bank to be substantially reduced in the financial capital. .
In the last civic poll where Shiv Sena and BJP fought separately, the performance of Congress worsened even more. Later, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the party failed to open its account in Mumbai and lost all six seats, while winning only four.
Jagtap, the new president, began his political career as a union leader. After joining Congress in 2001, he won the assembly elections once for the Khetwadi constituency and has since been nominated twice to the legislative council. Earlier this month, the All-India Congressional Committee had obtained comments from legislators, corporate and party bloc chairmen in Mumbai on their choice for the Mumbai presidential race. But the exercise failed to project a clear favorite.
The party had been without a full-time president in the commercial capital of Mumbai since last July, when former Union Minister Milind Deora had resigned. Former MP Eknath Gaikwad was replacing as acting president. On Saturday, the AICC appreciated Gaikwad’s role as deputy chairman, but party sources admitted there were complaints that he had not been very active.
The new team, led by Jagtap, has its task cut short, party sources admitted. The Shiv Sena and the BJP, seeking to confront each other, have already moved into voting mode, while Congress struggles to keep their house together.
His first task will also be to decide whether to participate in the upcoming elections alone or in alliance with the Shiv Sena and the NCP. The table seems divided on the subject. Anticipating that Asmita or Marathi regional pride will be a major issue in the elections, the party has appointed Jadhav as president, but his key task will also be to regain his own North Indian base of support which has substantially shifted its allegiance to the BJP since 2014.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
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