With less than two months to go for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, Mumbai Regional Congress Committee president Bhai Jagtap has decided to go solo, contesting all 236 seats. He is committed to bringing back the glory of 1995 when Congress contested without any allies. “Alliances don’t work in local bodies,” he told The Hindu but talked about giving 27% seats to Other Backward Classes (OBC). “Either there will be a Congress Mayor or without Congress there can’t be a Mayor,” he said during a brief chat. Excerpts:
The Congress has decided to contest all 236 seats alone in the civic polls. Don’t you think you would perform better with the alliance?
In 2002 and 2007, we fought separately, though we were in an alliance. In 2012, we joined with the Nationalist Congress Party, Samajwadi and Republic Party of India but lost miserably. Alliances don’t work in local bodies.
The day I took charge I said we would fight alone and make it happen. I want to bring back the glory we enjoyed in 1995.
In 2017, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ate into INC’s share, what do you think is different this time?
2014 onward, it has been Modi tsunami. In 2017 when his party was at its peak, we were the only party to contest on all 227 seats. One of our candidates got 800 votes; it means change can happen. Till 1995, we had our Mayor and later the alliances came into being. Someone has to take a stand and I have. This time, either there will be a Congress Mayor or without Congress there can’t be a Mayor.
Are you also setting the tone for 2024 Assembly elections?
Local body elections are different from Assembly and Parliamentary elections; it is a different canvas altogether. As the president of Mumbai, I can only talk about the city.
There are 108 local body elections going on and there are many places where the Congress is fighting on its own. So is Shiv Sena. What is the big deal?
When the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was formed there were talks about it not lasting five years. Your going solo is giving credence to that.
If you remember people said the MVA will not last even a month. Then it became two months and five months and so on.
Look at how COVID-19 was handled by the MVA in Maharashtra; it set an example for the world. Everything was managed without support from the Central government. There will be no problem with the MVA, it will continue.
What is Congress’s stand on OBC seats?
I do want to politicise the issue but I fail to understand why the Centre intervened into a State affair and now refuses to disclose the empirical data. The State government has started collating its own data; but it will take time. Before the matter was in the Supreme Court, I had announced we will give 27% to OBC in the BMC polls and I stand by it.
Rahul Gandhi was supposed to campaign for the elections, will his absence affect the outcome?
Due to the COVID-19 situation here, Rahulji was unable to attend the party’s 137th Foundation Day. All the party workers were looking forward to it but right now the priority is to fight Omicron. Rahulji will definitely come to campaign before the elections.
Does your strategy need to change with the nine extra wards added this time?
Addition of wards changes the scenario.
The nine extra wards mean lot of restructuring. Even if a small part of a ward goes into another ward, it makes a difference. All my party workers are present in all wards to raise concerns over fuel price hike and other financial crises.
