‘Nagpur Congress leaders never acknowledge ground-level workers’

Nagpur: In the recently-concluded Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) elections, the Congress managed a tally of only 29 corporators in the 151-member House. The party couldn’t even capitalise on the anti-incumbency against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had two back-to-back terms in the civic body. However, two corporators of the party managed to secure a victory in the BJP-dominated wards of the city.

All senior leaders of the Congress, including party’s city chief Vikas Thakre, suffered humiliating defeats in the election. However, the Nagpur Youth Congress president, 33-year-old Banty Shelke, who contested in the polls for the first time, managed to win his seat from Ward number 18, where the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) headquarters are based.

Mr. Shelke also defeated senior BJP leader Sudhir Raut, who is considered a member of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari’s “kitchen cabinet.” His ward has high profile voters, including Mr. Gadkari and his family, and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat.

Another Congress corporator, Praffulla Gudadhe Patil, who is known for his in-depth knowledge of local issues, managed to trump Chief Minister Devendra Fandavis in his Assembly constituency and got an entire panel elected for the Congress from Ward number 38. The CM and the BJP had begun their election campaign for the 2017 NMC polls from this ward, but none of the party’s candidates won from there.

‘No recognition’

Despite their achievements, however, the two leaders said they did not even get a “few words of recognition” from senior leaders of the party and its city unit.

Mr. Shelke said except Youth Congress State president Vishwajeet Kadam and Mr. Patil, no one from the party bothered to congratulate him. “One unit in Nagpur Congress is acting as if it’s a part of the BJP and gets salary from the CM.”

He added, “The glasses of our leaders’ air-conditioned cars never slide down for ground-level party workers, which is why our party is sinking. I won the election despite every effort of intimidation and attempts to sabotage legal voting procedure. I could do it because of my team of workers. No party leader campaigned for me in my ward, whereas Mr. Gadkari addressed two rallies and 18 house meetings in the ward for the BJP candidate.”

Mr. Patil was denied the post of the Leader of Opposition in the NMC after the election. However, both the corporators said they would wait for the party “to get rid of leaders who have lost people’s mandate.”

Mr. Shelke added, “Everyone in the party knows that if there is anyone who can revive the Congress in the city, it is Mr. Patil. The voters of Congress are still with the party but they are waiting for it to be led by genuine Congressmen in the city and not the fixers.”