MUMBAI: Ahead of the
2022 BMC elections
, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday appointed
trade union leader Bhai Jagtap
(62) as chief of the Mumbai Congress in place ofex-MP Eknath Gaikwad, who had been holding additional charge. Charan Singh Sapra, who was among the contenders for the city chief's post, has been appointed working president.
The fact that Jagtap is a Maharashtrian weighed in his favour in view of the coming battle for the BMC. The big challenge before Jagtap will be to revive a crisis-ridden Mumbai Congress, which is engulfed by large-scale groupism and factionalism. Jagtap will have to lead the party in the civic elections at a time when the Congress' presence in the city is relatively insignificant.
The appointment of the Mumbai Congress president had got delayed despite the fact that both the Shiv Sena and BJP had almost completed their basic exercise for the BMC elections scheduled for February 2022. Jagtap is currently a member of the state legislative council. He was earlier a member of the legislative assembly but lost the 2019 assembly elections. He is said to be acceptable to the rank and file of the party because of his openness and accessibility.
Along with Jagtap, former legislator Charan Singh Sapra, former corporator Amarjit Singh Manhas and former ministers Naseem Khan, Suresh Shetty and Madhu Chavan were in the zone of consideration for the post of city Congress president.
AICC secretary H K Patil had several rounds of talks with warring factions. Ultimately, it was decided to accommodate all the contenders for the Mumbai president's post. Several new posts have been created. While Sapra has been appointed working president, former minister Naseem Khan will lead the campaign committee, Manhas will head the coordination committee, and former minister Suresh Shetty will lead the manifesto committee. The MPCC in-charge for the Mumbai Congress will be Chandrakant Handore, while former MP Priya Dutt, legislator Amin Patel and Upendra Joshi will be among the members of the MRCC.