Mumbai Congress attempts to reestablish lost ground within north Indians – The Hindu

Aiming at the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls, the Mumbai Congress has begun wooing sizeable north Indian votes in the city. Accepting that these votes drifted away from the party in last five to seven years, the party is asking community members to come forward and voice their grievances with the party in a bid to rectify mistakes.

“We have announced our initiative of Uttar Bharatiya Panchayat to be held in the city. It will be first organised in all six parliamentary constituencies of the city. Then in all 36 assembly seats and from there it will be taken to each of the 227 wards of Mumbai,” said Mumbai Congress president Bhai Jagtap.

Mr Jagtap said over 18 to 19% north Indian voters in Mumbai form a sizeable chunk of the population whom proper presentation should be given. “North Indians always remained with the Congress party in Mumbai. It is true that they drifted a bit in last few years. There were some issues and also certain leaders had political ambitions so they jumped to BJP. But now we are going to people directly and instead giving speeches, asking them to tell us their grievances,” said Mr Jagtap.

On Thursday, the party had organised a meeting with north Indian leaders where even those who had distanced themselves from party activities were called and asked to voice their opinions. A total of 16 leaders expressed opinions and gave suggestions to reestablish the party within the north Indian community.

According to Suraj Singh Thakur, one of the north Indian leaders of the party, the community has realised the falsity of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and is returning to Congress. “We are confident that they will choose us,” he said.

Out of 227 wards in the BMC, the north Indian votes can decide winner in at least 50 seats while it can seriously impact the outcome in 50 more. “North Indian voters are facing several problems. But problems of residents in western suburbs are different than that of those in eastern part of the city. Therefore, we will approach them seperately and our solutions too will be unique,” said Mr Jagtap.