Plagued by infighting and camp wars, the party appears far from ready to fight the BMC polls next month as a 'team'
Last week, when Congress kicked off its BMC election campaign with a street play outside the MRCC office at CST, several senior leaders chose to give it a miss
This Friday, a text message from senior leader and former Union minister Gurudas Kamat to his party members, sent the Congress into a tizzy. "All applicants for municipal corporation tickets are requested to contact their local MLA candidates and district Congress president to get the party nomination, as I have withdrawn from the entire exercise of selection of candidates and campaign due to the negative attitude of Mr Sanjay Nirupam, Mumbai Congress President," the message read.
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The party’s January 17 protest outside the Reserve Bank of India headquarters in Fort would have been a no-show had Sanjay Nirupam not intervened and requested leaders to make it to the event
With corporation elections barely a month away, Kamat's ill-timed declaration, said party insiders, has come as a major blow to the Congress. Kamat has significant support from most of the sitting corporators (56) in the civic body and his exit could hit the morale of the party.
In another incident, on January 17, before the Congress’ scheduled protest against demonetisation at the Reserve Bank of India's head office in Fort, city president Nirupam was busy trying to convince leaders from the Chandivli and Kalina assembly constituency to postpone their meetings — happening at the same time — so that maximum number of partymen joined the morcha. Finally, after exchange of several calls with party leaders, the meeting was postponed and Congress saved itself a poor show at the morcha.
The two incidents are the most recent examples of the ongoing camp wars among senior party leaders. While the party says that it is ready for the BMC elections — scheduled on February 21 — the warring leaders have left the party with no significant leader to follow. The question is whether Congress will rise from the internal fights, which have battered its politics. Many think not.
Camp-driven party
While Nirupam has been appointed as the party’s city president, Congress is divided into several camps. Supporters of former MPs and MLAs like Gurudas Kamat, Priya Dutt, Milind Deora, Narayan Rane and Kripashankar Singh, refuse to toe the line of the party high command.
Incidentally, this is not the first time that Kamat has taken such a step. In June 2016, Kamat had declared retirement from politics after he did not receive a Rajya Sabha nomination. He was also unhappy with the party’s choice of Nirupam as head, said party sources. However, within two weeks, Kamat took back his resignation and joined the party again.
In November 2016, Bhomsingh Rathore, a former senior Congress leader, had quit to join Shiv Sena because of 'factionalism' in the party. "If you met one leader, the other would get upset. I did not want this to affect my political career,” Rathore had said then. When mid-day reached out to Rathore, he declined to comment.
Disunited we stand
Last week, Congress kicked off its BMC election campaign by organising a street play outside Mumbai Regional Congress Committee’s (MRCC) office at CST. However, the talking point among party workers attending the event was the absence of senior leaders. Former MPs Kamat and Dutt, former state minister Kripashankar Singh and sitting MLA from Chandivli Naseem Khan — who are the faces of the party in the city — were missing from the dais. Only Deora, Eknath Gaikwad and a few other leaders accompanied Nirupam.
Explaining the current scenario, a senior party leader, who did not wish to be named, said, “Most of the senior leaders are showing least interest in the election activities. Only leaders who are close to Nirupam have a say in party activities. This has irked many leaders and they decided not to get involved in the election.”
Nirupam: Controversy’s child
After taking over as city president in 2014, following Congress’ humiliating loss in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, Nirupam made several attempts to rejuvenate the party with his aggressive-style of functioning.
Within a year of taking charge, Nirupam removed two-time corporator Devendra Amberkar from the Opposition leader’s post in the BMC and made Pravin Chheda new party leader. Amberkar is said to be close to Kamat and is now facing uncertainty over tickets. Now, Nirupam’s close aide, MLA Aslam Shaikh, has been appointed as observer for the election.
Nirupam has been cause for concern for a while now.
In December 2015, he came under fire for projecting former PM Jawaharlal Nehru as a villain on the Jammu and Kashmir issue in the party mouthpiece, Congress Darshan. Nirupam managed to save his seat after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi accepted his apology. In October last year, Nirupam was criticised for his comment on the Surgical Strike (Sept. 29) against Pakistan. In his tweet, he had questioned the BJP action. At the time, top Congress leadership distanced itself from the comment.
AIMIM rise is Congress' loss
Even as Congress is dealing with internal fights, the rise of the AIMIM has also come as a potential threat to the party’s Muslim vote bank. Earlier, only Samajwadi Party ate into Congress’ Muslim votes, but now AIMIM could affect the party’s stronghold in areas like Kurla, Malvani, Byculla, Mohammad Ali Road and Behrampada.
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