One of trio of loyalists could head city Congress

The rank and file of Mumbai Congress are eagerly expecting the high command to restructure the metros organisational unit that will have to face the civic polls in another 1314 months in the changed political scenario in the state and the cityThe party made several changes to its national setup after the letter storm rocked it last month A senior leader from Karnataka H K Patil has been made general secretary incharge of Maharashtra Patil replaced Mallikarjun Kharge who held specific views about certain leaders in the contention for the top post of Mumbai Regional Congress Committee MRCCAccording to informed people the longtime party loyalists former minister Suresh Shetty senior trade union leader and MLC Bhai Jagtap and another senior leader Dr Amarjit Singh Manhas are in contention for the office All three have been in the Congress since their university days and have proved themselves at various levelsThe local leaders expect the new incharge to fathom their sentiments about the organisational requirements of Mumbai where the Congress in th BMC stands a poor third after the Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party BJP Separated from the BJP the Sena now leads the state government in association with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party NCP The question before the Congressman is whether the three MVA partners will join hands for the BMC elections even as the Sena and NCP have been giving a strong indication of the two going together in the civic pollsA senior Congress leader said the incumbent chief Eknath Gaikwad is an interim arrangement made after the fulltime president Milind Deora quit last yearGaikwad who is 80 years old has been there for a year We expected a reshuffle after Gaikwads daughter was made a minister in the MVA government but it didnt take place And then the pandemic hit us crippling all activities However when changes were made at the national level we hoped Mumbai Congress too will get a new president soon most probably after Soniajis Gandhi return from abroad the leader saidThe contendersOf the strong contenders Suresh Shetty is an excabinet minister who rose up the ranks from being a student leader He did not contest the last Assembly polls from his pet segment in Andheri but has been active in organisation Dr Manhas also started out as a student leader in the Mumbai University and remained a thorough organisational worker who assisted the former Mumbai unit president and exunion minister late Gurudas Kamat for many decades Member of the upper house Bhai Jagtap has emerged from trade unionism and won an Assembly election and two council pollsA leader said unlike larger units like the state committees the considerations for the Mumbai chiefs post are different Barring a few exceptions the Mumbai Congress was given a cosmopolitan face to lead We cant say for sure there are only three people remaining in the race A few more aspirants will make the contention harder in the days to come the leader addedNone of the strong contenders seemed averse to accepting the new responsibility Shetty said he hasnt been lobbying for the post I havent spoken to anyone in the party he said Jagtap said he has wholeheartedly accepted the roles his party has given him I have put in 100 per cent in my party work he said Manhas said he was a loyal member of the party Party workers like me are bound to discharge duties and responsibilities as instructed by the high command he saidKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news