Mumbai Congress chief says party to go solo in BMC elections

Mumbai Congress chief Bhai Jagtap on Monday confirmed that the party will contest the BMC elections alone and not with the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance.

"From day one of assuming charge as Mumbai Congress chief, I have been saying that Congress will contest all 227 seats (of BMC) alone. This will not be the first time. Between 1999 and 2014, we shared power with NCP, Samajwadi Party, and RPI but fought BMC polls separately," said Jagtap.

Indicating alternate angle of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's "chappal" remark, Jagtap said the latter could have been to encourage his party.

"Uddhav Thackeray Chappal's statement could be to encourage his party as far as upcoming BMC elections are concerned will go solo," said Jagtap.

His remarks come a day after CM Thackeray, said that people would "beat with chappals" those who only talk about contesting polls alone without offering solutions to people's problems.

During a function held on the foundation day of Shiv Sena on Saturday, Thackeray had without naming anyone attacked his allies. "A few people are talking about going solo and fighting elections on their own. People would hit them with chappals if they do so," the chief minister had said.

Earlier, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole on June 14 indicated that the party will contest the next Assembly polls alone and not as partners of Maha Vikas Aghadi Alliance.

"Congress will contest the Maharashtra Assembly Elections alone. I am ready to be the CM face if the high command decides," Patole had said.

However on Sunday Patole had said that the three-party MVA alliance, comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress, was formed in Maharashtra for five years and it is not a permanent fixture.

Staunch adversaries for long, the Shiv Sena and the Congress had banded together with the NCP to form the MVA government in Maharashtra after the Uddhav Thackeray-led party fell out with the BJP in 2019.

(ANI)

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