Mumbai: Former Congress MP Priya Dutt said handing over the reins of the Mumbai Congress unit to Milind Deora was a “very sensible decision”, and that there is no factionalism within the party’s city wing now with all Congress leaders supporting each other ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Dutt is the Congress candidate from Mumbai North Central constituency, where she lives. She is pitted against the BJP’s sitting MP Poonam Mahajan, daughter of senior BJP leader late Pramod Mahajan.
Speaking to ThePrint, Dutt said she had earlier decided to not contest elections and focus more on social work and her children as her ambitions are more about becoming a social worker rather than a national-level politician.
Talking about reports of factionalism in the Mumbai Congress unit, Dutt said, “Right now, I think, everything is sorted out.”
Infighting in Congress’ city unit has often hurt the party’s electoral performances — be it during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections or the Assembly polls the same year as well as the 2017 Mumbai civic polls.
“The feel that I get is it (the party’s Mumbai unit) is a cohesive unit. We all know and understand how important this election is. Everyone is really supporting each other so that we can get maximum seats,” said Dutt.
On the appointment of Deora as the chief of Mumbai Congress, replacing Sanjay Nirupam, Dutt said it was a very sensible decision.
“Everybody is happy. Sanjay Nirupam is fighting the seat he always wanted to fight. His focus is completely there. Milind Deora is a very amiable face. Everybody is supportive of him. I think he will take everybody together. It is a wonderful balance,” Dutt said.
Nirupam is contesting from the much-coveted Mumbai North West seat, the former constituency of late Congress leader Gurudas Kamat.
Also read: Despite infighting, Mumbai Congress chief sees party winning city’s six Lok Sabha seats
‘No ambitions of being a national political leader’
Dutt, who is the daughter of veteran Congressman and actor Sunil Dutt and sister of actor Sanjay Dutt, said she has no ambitions of becoming a national political leader and that working for the Nargis Dutt Foundation gives her more satisfaction.
She cited this as one of the main reasons why she took a step back from active politics and decided to not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. A mother of two, the former MP added that her children needed her attention and being out of active politics gave her enough time to spend with her children.
“Once I lost the election, it gave me more time to do things that I love doing. That’s when I got really focused on Nargis Dutt Foundation and I started working diligently to expand that. That was one of the big reasons and it gave me enough time with my children,” said Dutt, who lost the 2014 Lok Sabha election to Mahajan by a margin of 1.8 lakh votes.
Dutt said she changed her mind and decided to eventually contest the election after meeting Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
“He was going beyond politics on this. He was doing this not for the party, not for himself, but for the country because that was the need of the hour and we all felt it. My husband and I used to talk about what is happening today and there were times when I used to feel a pang of guilt,” she said, adding, she realised that people like her who believe in the Constitution and in democracy should take a stand.
Dutt, however, is undecided on whether she will contest elections after this. “Right now, I do not want to say anything because every time I have planned something in my life it has not worked out,” said Dutt, who contested her first election, a bypoll, after her father’s death, when she was pregnant.
Also read: Actor Urmila Matondkar joins Congress, likely to be fielded from Mumbai North
‘No Modi wave’
Dutt said 2014 Lok Sabha elections were such that there was just a single candidate across the country — Narendra Modi.
“Now, they (BJP) are pushing for that wave like crazy in desperation through everything from NaMo TV, biopics, films and advertisements. It is like you are being brainwashed with just that one person. So these things are happening, but I don’t see a wave,” said Dutt.
While Dutt refrained from directly commenting on rival Mahajan’s work in the past five years, she said, “When I go to people, I just see anger and I feel their dismay. They have not been heard, their problems have not been addressed.
“I can only talk about myself as to what I can do, and what I have done. And then it is really up to the people,” she added.
Priya Dutt and Milind Deora represent the cosmopolitan spirit of Bombay in a way that Sanjay Nirupam does not. Personally I find it difficult to think of him as a Congressman.