Mumbai Congress president to be named soon

The faction-ridden Mumbai Congress would get a new president soon. The Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC) functions as a separate Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) and is one of the most powerful Congress units in the country.

The Indian National Congress was founded in Mumbai, then Bombay, and the city being the financial capital, the Mumbai unit has its own importance.

The interim president of MRCC is Eknath Gaikwad, a two-time MP and three-time MLA, whose daughter Dr Varsha Gaikwad is also the state’s Education Minister.

After the debacle in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the MRCC went through a big phase of crisis and internal bickering.

While the campaign was underway, Sanjay Nirupam was removed and replaced by Milind Deora. The latter, however, left the post in September 2019, just ahead of Vidhan Sabha polls and was subsequently replaced by Gaikwad.

Senior Congress leader from Karnataka, HK Patil, who is the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Maharashtra, initiated discussions with senior leaders, including state’s Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat, who is the president of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC).

Among the frontrunners for the post of MRCC chief are Suresh Shetty and Mohammed Arif Naseem Khan – both ex-ministers in the erstwhile Congress-NCP Democratic Front government -- and senior leaders Bhai Jagtap, Charan Singh Sapra and Amarjeet Singh Manhas.

“The new Mumbai Congress President will be appointed by the end of December or early January,” a senior Mumbai Congress leader told DH on Friday.

According to him, the unit has to start preparations for the 2022 polls to the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). “The election to BMC is fiercely-contested as it is one of the biggest civic bodies in terms of jurisdiction and budget,” the leader said.

Mumbai has six Lok Sabha and 36 Vidhan Sabha seats. In the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress and NCP lost five seats and one seat, respectively, that they contested. In Assembly polls last year, Congress could win just one seat.