Mumbai: Ahead of the crucial Mumbai municipal body polls, the Congress replaced its Mumbai chief Bhai Jagtap with Varsha Gaikwad — the first woman to be appointed to the position.
Jagtap had been serving as the Mumbai Congress president since December 2020. Gaikwad, an MLA from Dharavi, is the Dalit face of the party. Her father Eknath Gaikwad had also served as the Mumbai Congress chief.
“This can only happen in the Congress, the party which continues to nurture Mahamanav, Bharat Ratna Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s dream of a progressive, inclusive India. It’s an emotional moment for me to step into the very position that my father held once,” she posted on Twitter after the announcement Friday night.
I want to thank Congress President Shri @kharge ji , Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji, Shri @RahulGandhi ji, Smt. @priyankagandhi ji and the entire Congress parivar for making an ordinary Congress worker's daughter, a Dalit woman the president of the Mumbai Congress. This can only happen in…
— Prof. Varsha Eknath Gaikwad (@VarshaEGaikwad) June 9, 2023
Gaikwad began her political journey from Dharavi in 2004 and has been a four-time MLA from there. She had also been a minister in the previous Congress-NCP government in 2009 and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in 2019.
A professor of mathematics at the Siddharth College of Arts, Science and Commerce in Mumbai, Gaikwad was the school education minister in the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government. She also held portfolios of MoS medical education, higher and technical education in 2009 under CM Ashok Chavan. She was later given the charge of women and child development as well.
Gaikwad now faces a tough challenge with Lok Sabha, assembly and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections likely to take place within the span of a year. She is one of the only four MLAs of the party out of 36 constituencies in Mumbai. The party currently does not have any MP from the financial capital.
ThePrint reach Jagtap and Gaikwad via call but did not receive a response. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
Also Read: In Sena vs Sena battle for Mumbai, Shinde son Shrikant takes on Aaditya Thackeray
Jagtap ouster
Jagtap’s troubles began when he defeated Chandrakant Handore, the Congress’ first choice, in the Maharashtra Legislative Council election in June 2022. His replacement process was delayed after the fall of MVA government, Congress sources told ThePrint.
A senior Congress leader requesting anonymity said that the high command had taken note of Handore’s defeat. “This went against him. The fact that our first-choice leader was defeated and Jagtap, who was our second choice, got elected sent a wrong message,” the leader said.
According to the sources within the Congress, Mumbai MLAs, including Gaikwad, were also unhappy with Jagtap’s interference in their constituencies and demanded his removal.
Jagtap also had a public spat with Bandra (East) MLA Zeeshan Siddique, who wrote to the then party president Sonia Gandhi about Jagtap’s alleged use of foul language and “ill-treatment” during a public protest in November 2021.
Another MLA, who did not wish to be named, told ThePrint, “It seems like he was running a private company. He does not involve any of us and work on his own. It won’t work like that.”
BMC elections
The Congress has a traditional vote bank in Mumbai, but it performed poorly in the 2017 elections, winning only 29 out of 227 seats.
After getting into an alliance with the undivided Shiv Sena in 2019, the party is said to be unsure about whether to contest alone or with Shiv Sena for the BMC polls. The BMC has been under state-appointed administrator’s rule since March 2022.
In 2021, Jagtap announced that the Congress would go solo and contest all the seats in BMC without any tie-up. However, after the split in the Shiv Sena and the fall of the MVA government, the Congress is still undecided on the alliance.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
Also Read: Schemes, loans & evictions — how Mumbai’s hawkers become political fodder before every election