Mumbai Cong: Go it alone in BMC polls
Mumbai Congress leaders want the party to fight the coming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections on its own after defeating the Shiv Sena-MNS and the BJP on its home turf in the Lok Sabha and the state Assembly polls twice since 2004. The Congress, too, is not keen to have a pre-poll alliance with the Sharad Pawar-led party in this election.
The Mumbai and Maharashtra Congress want to expand the party further after realising that the Shiv Sena, BJP, MNS and even the NCP cannot make a dent in its Muslim-dalit support base.
A delegation of the Mumbai Congress MPs consisting of Mr Eknathrao Gaikawad (Mumbai South Central), Mr Milind Deora (Mumbai South), Mr Sanjay Nirupam (Mumbai North) and Ms Priya Dutt (Mumbai North Central) met Mrs Gandhi in New Delhi a few days back and apprised her of the ground situation in the state.
According to the party insiders, the Congress must go it alone in the coming BMC election after winning five of the total six Lok Sabha seats. And even the sixth seat was won by it ally — NCP nominee Sanjay Dina Patil (Mumbai North-East).
In the last BMC election, the Congress had wanted to have a pre-poll alliance with the Sharad Pawar-led party but the two parties had failed to resolve the seat-sharing issue despite several round of meetings. And the division in the Congress-NCP votes had helped the Shiv Sena-BJP combine.
But in the coming BMC polls, the Shiv Sena would be the main rival of the MNS led by Mr Raj Thackeray. Both the parties would play the Marathi card vigorously. This would help the Congress in consolidating the non-Maharashtrians, especially the North and South Indians. The BJP is depending on Gujarati and Kannadiga votes.
The non-Congress parties cannot come together openly for obvious reasons. The NCP cannot afford to ally with either the Shiv Sena-BJP or the MNS, being a constituent of the UPA at the Centre and in the state. A third alternative has proved a non-starter several times. The only alternative left for the NCP would be to go it alone under the leadership of deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal. He was the mayor of Mumbai and was brought up in the megalopolis. But he has started projecting himself as the OBC leader. Therefore, it would be interesting to see whether his OBC card clicks in the BMC polls.
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