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Congress MLC Bhai Jagtap on Wednesday said that the party should contest the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections independently of an alliance.
While Congress is part of the Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA) with the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP), Bhai Jagtap expressed his desire for the party to contest the civic polls independently. He also stated that the final call will be taken by the party's high command. The Congress leader told reporters, "I said we should contest alone. I'm not the only one saying this; our Political Affairs Committee also says that this is a fight between the workers (of several parties), and Congress should fight alone. We have presented our views to the top leadership. In Congress, whatever the high command says is paramount." This comes after Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) joined hands with Shiv Sena (UBT) ahead of the civic polls. Earlier, on August 15, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut announced that Uddhav and Raj Thackeray will contest the BMC elections together. "Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray will contest municipal elections together and win. The combined strength of Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray, along with the unity of the Marathi people, is the key to victory in elections," Sanjay Raut said. Meanwhile, Raut on Monday expressed support for MNS chief Raj Thackeray, who recently alleged that 9.6 million fake voters have been added to the voter list. Addressing the issue in the press conference held today in Mumbai, Raut clarified the party's position, saying, "We have never said that we will not contest the BMC election. We only said that first, the voter list should be corrected. According to Raj Thackeray, 9.6 million voters are bogus in the list." Raut further announced a protest action, stating, "On November 1, all Opposition parties will participate in a long march against the bogus voters in the list." Uddhav Thackeray, Raj Thackeray and Sharad Pawar are also set to meet with election officials in Maharashtra, led by party chief Uddhav Thackeray, to address concerns over discrepancies in the voter list. Mumbai is set to undergo polling for BMC elections later this year. (ANI)
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