Mumbai: With talks of the Shiv Sena UBT-Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and two warring factions of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) possibly heading for a union, the Congress is calculating its next steps given that local body polls are due in four months.
Senior Maharashtra Congress leaders will be meeting Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi this week to decide on the party’s strategy irrespective of whether its alliance partners go with it or not.
The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) hasn’t put up any great show of unity since the assembly polls in November last year. Now since the last one month, the signalling of a thaw in the relations of estranged Thackeray cousins—Uddhav and Raj—and frequent meetings between the Pawars, the latest one being last Saturday, can change the dynamics in the state. Any realignment will first impact the upcoming local body elections.
“The Congress is the only option against the BJP on national level. So, we will keep fighting irrespective of the scenario. Now whether Raj Thackeray forms an alliance with Uddhav Thackeray and will he be a part of the MVA or not, this issue will be discussed in the meeting with Kharge ji and Rahul ji,” a senior Congress leader told ThePrint.
But several Congress leaders that ThePrint spoke to are of the opinion that any change won’t impact the MVA and that the party is not worried at the moment. One of the reasons for their assurance is that the Congress functionaries feel that the possibility of Raj and Uddhav coming together and Sharad and Ajit Pawar joining hands is distant at the moment.
“The Congress has been fighting an ideological battle with the BJP. And our fight will go on. Whoever wants to join us in this fight against the BJP are welcome. And if families are getting reunited, why would we oppose it?” Congress state president Harshwardhan Sapkal told ThePrint.
Political analyst Abhay Deshpande ruled out any realignment in Maharashtra’s political alliances. “I feel all this positioning is for the upcoming local body polls and here too, I don’t think any pre-poll cross alliance is possible (MVA partners with Mahayuti partners),” Deshpande told ThePrint. “Even within the current alliances, most parties would prefer going alone and so it is a chance for the Congress to in fact strengthen its position, especially in Nagpur and Vidarbha.”
Nagpur is the stronghold of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), whereas the ruling party and the Congress are evenly matched in Vidarbha.
Also Read: Another family feud brews in Sena UBT as ex-corporator Ghosalkar resigns from party posts
‘Fight is with BJP’
In the past, the Aghadi partners have opined that for the local body polls, they all might fight separately as is the case when the BJP-Shiv Sena and the Congress-NCP alliance used to do.
“Even in the past when we were with the NCP, we had fought the local body polls separately. And normally, this is how it might be even this time around. Post poll alliances are possible but pre-poll, it all depends and differs from corporation to corporation. There might be alliances in some corporations like Kolhapur, Satara, Sangli and for Mumbai, it might be or might not be…,” a senior state leader from the Congress told ThePrint.
But the leader sounded caution as far as these mergers were concerned. “I don’t see these mergers happening any time soon. These mergers won’t do any good to the BJP so they will by hook or crook make sure that the Thackerays don’t join hands and the Pawars don’t get stronger,” he said.
As for Uddhav and Raj, the Congress leader said that this was their “probably only and strongest chance” to bounce back. “They both need each other at the moment and this is why I believe the BJP wont let that happen as it wants to get hold of BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) at any cost.”
Currently headed by a government-appointed commissioner, the BMC has been a fortress of the undivided Shiv Sena.The last BMC polls were held in 2017.
“As far as the NCP is concerned, many of its stalwarts are with Ajit Pawar and so naturally those who are with senior Pawar must be getting feelers. But I don’t think the reason why Pawar senior spoke about joining hands is because something is being worked out behind the curtains. Instead, it is to silence and expose those who want to break away. But in all of this, the Congress is going to wait and watch,” the leader explained.
As of now, the MVA is intact and there is no question of a break up, Congress leaders told ThePrint. But they added that the party is going to focus on rebuilding it from the grassroots as it believes it has lost a huge chunk of OBC (Other Backward Class) votes though the vote share was 12.42 percent in state polls, second highest after the BJP’s 26.7 percent.
Another Congress leader explained within the Congress there was a thought process within the party ranks that if the party was strengthened from grassroot, the vote bank could lead to electoral gain. This, the leader said, was where the party would be focusing on.
“We are fighting the BJP directly. And it worked in Lok Sabha. Though in the assembly elections our tally was not good (16 seats), what we realised is that after the BJP, it is our vote share that was highest after the BJP as the Sena and the NCP broke into factions. So whoever joins whom, we should not be worried much,” the leader explained.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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