The BMC elections will be held on February 21 along with nine other civic bodies across Maharashtra.
Ahead of elections to Mumbai's Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation or BMC, the country's richest civic body, senior Congress leader Gurudas Kamat dragged out a revolt in the party in public with a series of tweets lambasting the party's Mumbai chief Sanjay Nirupam, who he has accused of "driving people away and into the BJP."
The immediate provocation was a former Congress lawmaker Krishna Hedge joining the BJP late last night. Mr Hegde has said that the "autocratic behaviour" of Sanjay Nirupam led to his decision to quit, also lamenting that the Congress leadership took no heed of his complaints.
"Sad to see 2ndGen Congressman forced to leave @INCIndia due to Nirupam & MohanPrakash behaviour. @OfficeOfRG @ahmedpatel Must STOP the bleed! (sic)" tweeted Mr Kamat, seeking the intervention of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and senior leader Ahmed Patel.
He alleged a "deliberate attempt" by Mr Nirupam and Mohan Prakash, who is the central Congress leader in charge of Maharashtra, to drive people out of the party while Rahul Gandhi is busy with assembly elections in five states.
Mr Kamat had on Saturday recused himself from the candidate selection committee for the BMC elections and has predicted that "outsiders" will "sink" the Congress ship in the civic polls. Mr Kamat is said to be upset over Mr Nirupam's unilateral approach to deciding candidates.
Gurudas Kamat, a career Congressman, calls Mr Nirupam an "outsider"; the latter had quit the Shiv Sena about a decade ago to join the Congress.
The party's central leadership is now rushing former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to mediate and bring peace.
After being ousted from power in Maharashtra by the BJP and Shiv Sena in the Maharashtra assembly elections of 2014, the Congress has lost considerable ground in civic elections held in the rest of the state. The revolt in its ranks in Mumbai will damage its prospects of posing any real challenge to the Shiv Sena and the BJP in these elections.
The BMC elections will be held on February 21 along with nine other civic bodies across Maharashtra. In the outgoing corporation of 227 seats, controlled by the Shiv Sena and BJP alliance, the Congress had won 52 seats.