After a lot of bickering among them, senior Congress leaders from Mumbai have resolved to get united to ensure victory for the party in next year's civic polls
Rahul Gandhi
After a lot of bickering among them, senior Congress leaders from Mumbai have resolved to get united to ensure victory for the party in next year's civic polls. They have not only passed a resolution to work together, but also submitted it to the party vice president Rahul Gandhi in a written submission.
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Rahul Gandhi
The resolution, which some leaders called a pledge, says, "We will sink our differences, if any and pledge to work dedicatedly for hoisting the Congress flag at the BMC Headquarters."
The resolution was presented to Gandhi early this month when he had called prominent Mumbai leaders to New Delhi. City Congress president Sanjay Nirupam, Gurudas Kamat, Baba Siddiqui, Kripashankar Singh, Aslam Sheikh and others were present at the meeting.
The resolution has names of Nirupam, Kamat, Eknath Gaikwad, Priya Dutt, Milind Deora, Suresh Shetty, Singh, Siddiqui, Charan Singh Sapra and Janardan Chandurkar as signatories.
Sources in the Congress said that the leaders who are part of resolution will meet at Bandra-Kurla Complex's MCA Club on Saturday over lunch to revive the oath of unity and plan a future course of action.
The leaders present told Gandhi that they will accept full responsibility for the outcome of the BMC elections, including defeat of the candidates they recommend for polls. This viewpoint has also been included in the resolution.
Gandhi had convened this crucial meeting in view of Kamat's resignation from the party, which he was persuaded to withdraw. Kamat's primary complaint was against Nirupam's style of functioning and some ideas like holding primaries to select party's BMC candidates. In fact , many other leaders were opposed to primaries and they had expressed their unhappiness over the suggestion.
Seeing the opposition, it was decided to not conduct primaries and instead select candidates who are capable, popular and have good connect with the masses and strong winnability quotient.
The leaders told Gandhi that if any individual recommends the name of any candidate, he will make sure that he or she will win. "We will be accountable to the party high command for the defeat of the candidates recommended by us," said the resolution.
Sources in the Congress said that the resolution was prepared by senior leaders after detailed deliberations that were at Mumbai.
Nirupam confirmed the development. "I'm sure our united efforts will defeat the Shiv Sena and BJP in the BMC polls," he told mid-day on Thursday.
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