Congress leaders seek Gaikwad’s replacement

Factionalism flares up in the Mumbai Congress unit as 16 senior leaders of the party have demanded that its city unit chief Varsha Gaikwad be replaced to strengthen the organisation ahead of the Maharashtra assembly polls due in October this year.

They feel that Gaikwad, who recently won the Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha seat, will not have time to work at the organisational level and have objected to her style of functioning, sources close to the party said on Monday.

In a letter on June 16, the leaders sought time from the Congress leadership to discuss the rejuvenation of the city unit ahead of the assembly elections, and the Mumbai civic polls.

Signatories of the letter include Rajya Sabha MP and Congress Working Committee member Chandrakant Handore, former city party chiefs Janardhan Chandurkar and Bhai Jagtap, senior leaders Naseem

Khan, Suresh Shetty, Madhu Chavan, Charansingh Sapra, Zakir Ahmed and Maharashtra Congress treasurer Amarjit Manhas.

Most of these leaders have reached Delhi to meet Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leaders KC Venugopal and Rahul Gandhi to discuss how to strengthen the party in the city, the sources said.

A meeting related to Maharashtra is scheduled on Tuesday.

“Recently, at a protest in connection with the UGC-NET exam chaos, Gaikwad did not call all party leaders at the city unit office. Hence they had to stage a separate protest in suburbs,” a source claimed.

“It is now 13 months she is the city unit head, but she has not spearheaded any substantial activity to galvanize the party cadre,” the source further claimed.

Leaders feel that Gaikwad will not have time to work at the organisational level and have objected to her style of functioning