Congress says committed to Marathi cause but top brass skips Raj-Uddhav show of strength rally in Mumbai

Mumbai: Adopting a cautious approach, the Congress, which leads the I.N.D.I.A. opposition bloc, appeared to skip the Raj-Uddhav mega show of strength in Mumbai, however, asserted that it is committed to the cause of Marathi.

The seniormost Congress leader who was present was former Rajya Sabha member Dr Bhalchandra Mungekar, an educationalist and economist, who was former vice chancellor of University of Mumbai.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) headed by Uddhav is part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi while Raj, the founder of MNS, is currently equidistant from Congress and BJP.

NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar was not present because of prior engagements, however, was represented by his daughter and party’s working president Supriya Sule and Jitendra Awhad.

Leaders of Left and Socialist parties were also present at the meeting.

These include Dr Ajit Navale, the state general secretary of CPI(M), Prakash Reddy of CPI, Jayant Patil of Peasants and Workers Party of India and Mahadev Jankar of Rashtriya Samaj Paksha.

It may be mentioned that last Sunday when Uddhav burnt copies of the GR on three-language policy, state Congress president Harshavardhan Sapkal was present.

The Raj-Uddhav meeting came just ahead of Monday’s Congress review meeting which would be presided over by AICC general secretary Ramesh Chennithala.

Couple of days ago, former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said that the Congress will discuss with UBT Sena and NCP (SP) leadership and “sub-alliance” would be left to them."If we go in an alliance (in the local body polls), we will have a seat sharing with the leaders of the alliance partners, that is Uddhav Thackeray of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar of the NCP (SP),” he had said.

“f the person is completely against the values that the Congress stands for, then we will raise some objections; otherwise, it is an internal family matter and how they do seat adjustments in case we go with an alliance (in the local body polls),” Chavan said.

Congress sources said that since many political parties were involved in protesting against the GRs, their leaders should have been given space in the dais.