“All is well,” says a young Congress worker from Dharavi, one of the hundreds milling around the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee office on Thursday on the eve of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s visit.
A Sanjay Nirupam supporter, the activist downplays the reported fight between two Congress MLAs from rival factions, who nearly came to blows over the itinerary of Mr Gandhi’s two-day visit. “It was a minor incident. Sanjay Nirupam is doing good work, and rivals obviously feel insecure,” he says.
The usually sleepy MRCC office is being decked up. While Mr Gandhi is scheduled to inaugurate a hall named after Murli Deora on Friday evening, his visit will essentially flag off the Congress campaign for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls scheduled in February 2017.
Factionalism has always been an intrinsic part of the Congress, with groups loyal to Gurudas Kamat and Murli Deora controlling the Mumbai unit. The party has 52 corporators in the 225-member BMC, and most are known to be loyal to Mr Kamat.
“No matter whether Rahul Gandhi visits Mumbai for two days or for two months, the infighting within our party is here to stay till the civic elections are over,” a senior Mumbai Congress leader told The Hindu.
The differences, which existed ever since former MP Sanjay Nirupam was crowned the Mumbai unit chief, have only escalated since the last month. The trigger turned out to be an editorial in the city unit’s mouthpiece Congress Darshan , which criticised the Nehru-Gandhi family.
Mr Nirupam’s quick apology by accepting the mistake did not help him, and only served to give his detractors an opportunity to lobby against him further. Talks of his removal are doing the rounds, and he has been served a show cause notice. To make things worse, two Congress MLAs from the Nirupam and Kamat camps came to blows at a party meeting two days ago, raising questions on whether factionalism will harm the party’s attempt to rejuvenate itself and its fortunes after humiliating defeats in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections last year.
On the eve of Mr Gandhi’s visit, the state unit wants to put these embarrassments behind and is trying to present a united face to welcome their leader. Going by the party’s history, however, the infighting is here to stay till the richest municipal corporation in the country goes to the polls.
For almost 22 years, the Mumbai Congress was single-handedly run by Murli Deora. His iron grip over the party’s city unit was such that, despite being unhappy, his rivals had no option but to fall in line. While former MP Gurudas Kamat managed to make inroads in Delhi, he could never successfully challenge Deora in Mumbai.
After the ouster of scam-accused Kripashankar Singh and the ineffective Janardan Chandurkar from the post, the appointment of Mr Nirupam – a journalist-turned-Shiv Sainik – raised eyebrows in party circles. Party sources say he successfully convinced Delhi that he will effectively take on the Sena and win back north Indian and Muslim votes which had drifted to BJP in the Lok Sabha and assembly polls.
As the new Mumbai Congress president, Mr Nirupam organised aggressive protest marches on local issues and began meeting north Indian voters who had given up on the Congress. His rise brought the Kamat and Deora groups closer, and his decisions to target office-bearers from these groups and put his men in charge only added to the growing anxiety. According to party sources, the whole anti-Nirupam saga appeared to be aimed at ensuring a larger share in ticket distribution for the civic polls. While speculation continues over Mr Nirupam’s likely ouster within the party, the party does not appear to have the option of a younger, aggressive face.
Among the contenders being discussed, former South Mumbai MP Milind Deora, a close Rahul Gandhi aide, is the suave face of the party known more for reasoned debates than street agitations, which the Mumbai Congress needs in the run-up to the BMC polls.
Another name making the rounds is that of recently-relected MLC Bhai Jagtap, a labour leader and a Marathi face who can work with Mumbai voters. “By winning the MLC election recently, Bhai has proved his potential in tackling other parties and may be an option for taking on the Sena. However, his appointment may once again disturb the sizeable north Indian vote bank, which can shift to the BJP in the civic polls yet again,” said a senior state Congress leader. The Congress is facing another challenge from All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, which threatens to eat into its Muslim votes.
