Mumbai Civic Polls: Congress Confirms Independent Run Amid Local Alliances

Senior Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar announced the party's plan to independently contest the Mumbai civic polls, diverging from Maharashtra Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal's stance against alliances with MNS. District units were given autonomy to align locally, leading to intra-party disagreements over alliances and election strategies in Maharashtra.

Senior Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar announced on Monday that the party will contest the Mumbai civic polls independently. He emphasized there should be no issue if colleagues in Nashik choose to align with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), highlighting that district units are authorized to make decisions based on local circumstances.

However, Maharashtra Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal expressed a contrasting view, indicating that party officials in Nashik would receive show cause notices for exploring an alliance with the Raj Thackeray-led MNS without state unit approval. Sapkal maintained that alliances should be within the INDI bloc partners.

Wadettiwar stated there was no plan for seat-sharing talks in Mumbai but allowed alliances with Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, BSP, MNS, and other non-Maha Vikas Aghadi parties. Meanwhile, Sapkal emphasized stricter adherence to authorized guidelines, marking a divide in strategy within the Congress ranks.

(With inputs from agencies.)