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Mumbai: A rift has emerged within the Congress party over the issue of alliance for the Maharashtra civic elections. The party appears divided on the issue of an alliance with the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). While senior Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar on Saturday supported a united front, MP Varsha Gaikwad said the party remains firm on not allying with the MNS in Mumbai. Maharashtra Congress chief Harsh Vardhan Sapkal said the party’s Mumbai unit will decide on the local alliance for the BMC elections.
What did Wadettiwar say?
However, Congress Legislature Party leader Wadettiwar clarified that the party will not compromise its ideology for the sake of forming an alliance. The Congress leader cited NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar’s statement in which he stressed the importance of opposition unity to defeat the BJP. “Ultimately, ideology matters. We are positive about contesting the elections unitedly, including the MNS,” Wadettiwar told reporters in Mumbai. Everyone will have to come together to defeat the BJP.” He referred to the MNS’s participation in the “Satyagraha Morcha” organized by the opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Mumbai earlier this month against alleged discrepancies in the voter list.
Congress will not join hands with those involved in violence
Wadettiwar’s open support for the MNS alliance proposal contradicts the decision of the Mumbai unit of the Congress, which has announced that it will contest the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections alone. Maharashtra Congress chief Sapkal reiterated that the party will never join hands with “those involved in violence.” Speaking to reporters in Beed, he said that the party’s Mumbai unit will decide with whom the Congress will form an alliance at the local level for the BMC elections. Sapkal said, “Sharad Pawar is a senior leader, but the decision to form an alliance in Mumbai will be taken by the party’s city unit.”
What did Varsha Gaikwad say?
Reacting to Wadettiwar’s comments, Mumbai Congress president Varsha Gaikwad said that while he spoke about a state-level alliance, the party’s Mumbai unit has already made its stand clear that it will not join hands with the MNS for the BMC elections. Gaikwad had previously said that the Congress will never ally with those who take the law into their own hands and intimidate others. Voting for the 246 municipal councils and 42 nagar panchayats in Maharashtra will be held on December 2, while municipal corporation elections are expected to be held in January 2026.
BJP fabricated a story – Wadettiwar
The growing closeness between the Shiv Sena (Ubatha), a constituent of the MVA, and the MNS (led by Uddhav Thackeray’s cousin Raj Thackeray) has clearly shaped the Congress’s decision to contest the elections independently. Meanwhile, Wadettiwar claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s internal survey, which predicted a significant lead for the party in the Mumbai municipal elections, was “fabricated.” Wadettiwar alleged, “This is a fabricated story by the BJP. It’s a desperate attempt to influence public perception. Yesterday, several new voter ID cards mysteriously appeared in Mumbai; perhaps the BJP wants to repeat what it did in Bihar. They want to destroy democracy.”
BJP Leader Chandrashekhar Bawankule’s Reaction
However, senior BJP leader and Maharashtra government minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule criticized the Congress’s change in stance regarding an alliance with the MNS, calling it “politics of convenience.” Bawankule said that the Congress had previously strongly opposed any alliance with the MNS because the MNS has been waging an aggressive campaign against Hindi-speaking people. He alleged, “The party leadership adopted this stance out of fear of facing voter displeasure in the recently concluded Bihar Assembly elections. However, now the Congress is changing its stance for its own convenience ahead of the civic elections in Maharashtra.” Meanwhile, reacting to MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande’s comment calling the Congress an “amoeba,” party spokesperson Sachin Sawant said, “Science explains how an amoeba stays grounded. And politics explains how some people change colors.” He added, “Instead of changing colors like a chameleon in every election out of fear of challenges, the Congress has the ability to face every challenge by staying grounded like an amoeba.”
