MUMBAI: The unity in the city’s Congress unit is fading. Insiders say it won just 30 seats in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls. In the last elections, it had bagged 52. In October, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi kicked off the party’s campaign in the city by addressing a youth gathering and a rally at Dharavi, the largest slum in Asia.
Rahul was hoping to woo the party’s traditional voters. The two-day programme was followed by city unit president Sanjay Nirupam holding a series of rallies and meetings across Mumbai. But within three months, the party seems to have lost its steam.
Although Rahul had signalled that the party’s leadership was backing Nirupam, the ground report revealed that factionalism was getting stronger.
As a strategy primarily aimed against the BJP, Nirupam targeted north Indian voters, which led to differences in the party. “Congress is an all encompassing party. Banking on only a specific voter group would break that fabric,” Nirupam’s opponents argued.
The party’s survey identified 92 of the 228 seats where it can win. At least 45 of those are marked as category A, which means chances of winning are high. But many of the seats are dominated by north Indian voters and the BJP stands a better chance to bag them if it allies with the Shiv Sena. “If they strike an alliance, the Congress will win just 30 seats,” a north Indian leader of the party said.
Congress leaders are also critical of Nirupam’s decision to sever ties with the NCP. Though the NCP doesn’t have much presence in the city, putting up a united face against the BJP is necessary, they said.