16 December,2025 08:30 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Congress will fight polls for Mumbai’s development and future of its citizens, Varsha Gaikwad said. File Pic
Mumbai Congress president Varsha Gaikwad on Tuesday said the party will contest the upcoming BMC Election 2026 on local civic issues, asserting that voters will not be influenced by what she described as the BJP's "religious agenda", reported the PTI.
Elections to 29 municipal corporations across Maharashtra, including Mumbai, are scheduled to be held on January 15.
Speaking to reporters, Varsha Gaikwad alleged that the BJP-led Mahayuti government, through the administrator appointed to run the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), had diverted or misused civic funds for the benefit of select contractors and industrialists.
"Congress will fight these elections for Mumbai's development and the future of its citizens," she said.
The Mumbai North Central MP claimed that corruption increased during the administrator's tenure, while citizens were deprived of basic services such as good roads, reliable water supply, clean air, education and healthcare.
She pointed out that the BJP, along with the undivided Shiv Sena, had ruled the BMC for nearly 25 years, and that the civic body has now been under an administrator appointed by the BJP-led state government for the past three years.
During this period, she alleged, the BMC's treasury was misused.
Accusing the BJP of attempting to polarise voters on religious lines, Gaikwad said the Mumbai civic elections should be fought strictly on issues affecting the city and its residents.
"The BMC elections are about Mumbai's problems and solutions, not religious politics," she said.
Referring to the National Herald case, Gaikwad said the court's refusal to take cognisance of the charge sheet against Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others had exposed what she called the BJP's attempt to defame the Congress leadership.
She also alleged that the BJP was misusing central agencies to target opposition leaders.
Maharashtra Congress on Tuesday said it will finalise its candidates for the January 15 polls to 29 municipal corporations at a two-day meeting of the State Parliamentary Board beginning on December 25.
State Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal told reporters that he held a meeting with party leaders from 28 of the 29 poll-bound civic bodies to chalk out a strategy for the elections.
(with PTI inputs)
