Solo or alliance this BMC polls: Mumbai Congress divided

Leaders and workers celebrate the Congress’s victory in Karnataka Assembly elections, at the party’s Mumbai office, in May. File Pic/Atul Kamble

Alliance has become a bone of contention for the Mumbai unit of the Congress party. While one section feels it would be wise to contest the upcoming BMC elections as part of the MVA, another wants to go solo.

For alliance

An office-bearer of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee, who is in favour of contesting civic polls in alliance, pointed out that "last (2017) election, we contested from more than 200 wards, but managed to win from merely 31 of them. Since then, nothing has changed for the Congress in Mumbai, hence it won't be wise to contest the polls alone".

"Moreover, if the Congress will contest the state Assembly and the general elections as part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, then there is no point in going independent for the civic polls," the office-bearer added.

A former corporator supported the office-bearer's point, adding, "It's not possible to fight elections in the state together, and campaign against former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai. We can contest other civic body polls alone, but not the BMC elections. Moreover, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is huge, unlike others."

He agreed that the general view is that the results of the Karnataka Assembly elections have changed the mood of the voters. "However, we are working on the ground and we are aware of the actual mood of the voters. Even today, the situation in Mumbai is not very much in favour of the Congress."

According to the election result data of 2017, Congress ranked second in terms of vote share in 30 wards, third in 70 wards and fourth in 57 wards. "If we consider the last term's election result, then alliance is a good option for the upcoming elections," the former corporator said.

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Against alliance

A member of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee, who wants the Congress to go solo, believes the party needs to strategise for the future. "A party needs to think about the future, not just the present election. Last election, we contested from over 200 wards, but in alliance, we won't get more than 100 wards. We would need to compromise. Even in the worst situation, we managed to win 31 wards in the 2017 elections," he said.

"The final decision on the alliance will be taken by our leadership, and we will follow it," said Bhai Jagtap, president, Mumbai Congress. "But I have shared my opinion; I am in favour of going solo in the BMC polls. The political situation has changed now; it is not the same as 2017. If we contest the election in alliance, how many wards do we get to fight from? We have our party presence in all wards of the city now," he added.

31
No of wards Cong won out of 200+ it fought in '17