Maharashtra Lok Sabha Elections: Resentment Grows Within Congress Over Seat-Sharing in Maha Vikas Aghadi

Mumbai: There seems to be a growing resentment within the Congress party itself over the role taken by senior Congress leaders in the Maha Vikas Aghadi seat-sharing and seat-sharing. There is a feeling among local Congress office-bearers that senior leaders have taken over the seats that the Congress does not want, while the constituencies that the party is sure of victory have been left out. Interestingly, the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) leaders did not take local office-bearers into confidence while allotting constituencies.

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The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) did not take the Mumbai Congress into confidence while discussing seat-sharing in Mumbai in the Maha Vikas Aghadi( MVA). According to sources in the Congress, there was no discussion with Mumbai Congress president Varsha Gaikwad about the seats in Mumbai. Speaking to Lokmat, a Mumbai Congress leader claimed that the seats allotted by the Uddhav Sena have been accepted by the Congress leaders. Varsha Gaikwad is deeply upset with the stand of state Congress leaders and her phone has been reachable since the seat-sharing was announced on Tuesday. Congress leaders have been trying to contact her for two days, but Varsha Gaikwad has not been contacted. Interestingly, she did not attend the meeting called by herself on Wednesday, so the meeting had to be canceled. There is a feeling among Mumbai Congress leaders and office-bearers that senior Congress leaders have sacrificed the Mumbai Congress in the seat-sharing arrangement.

Local office-bearers of the Mumbai Congress had urged the party high command not to replace North Mumbai, but the North Mumbai seat, which was unwanted and did not have the strength there, was taken over by the Congress. There is a lot of resentment in the Mumbai Congress over leaving the seat for the Uddhav Sena when the Congress has strength in south-central Mumbai.

On the other hand, there is a feeling among party workers and office-bearers in the district that congress leaders have not made much effort for the Sangli seat when the district MLAs and office-bearers have been insisting from the beginning. There is talk in the Congress that their leaders have fallen short of taking the Sangli seat which is now with the Uddhav Thackeray group which has no influence there. On Bhiwandi too, Congress leaders have bowed to the insistence of the Sharad Pawar group, say Congress functionaries.

Given this situation in the Congress, the seat-sharing tussle in the Maha Vikas Aghadi has been resolved, but now the appeal of senior Congress leaders is to resolve this infighting in the Congress.