'Will Fight Mumbai Civic Poll Solo', Congress Says, Blames Raj Thackeray, BJP

The Congress - part of Maharashtra's Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance, which includes Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena and the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party faction - has reaffirmed its decision to contest the upcoming Mumbai civic body elections independently.

Party spokesperson Sachin Sawant said Monday the decision was taken after "extensive consultation with local leaders, district unit, and central leadership". Congress leaders, though, said the decision was based on the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's unyielding stance on the Marathi identity and the consequent (and recurring) 'outsider' debate.

MNS Mumbai chief Sandeep Deshpande offered a short response. "Everyone knows the Congress' history... whom they have hit and killed; we are aware. I wish them well".

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party remains the Congress' principal political opponent, but party leaders said the MNS' 'Marathi identity' stance had 'reinforced' the need to go solo.

"Congress has never compromised on ideology. Our politics is rooted in constitutional values, equality, and inclusivity," Sawant said, adding the party had opposed the MNS' linguistic politics and tactic of physical intimidation from the beginning. "We are proud of the Marathi identity... but we reject any politics that insults other languages or attacks other people," he said, referring to multiple shocking cases of migrant workers being attacked by MNS goons.

Sawant argued that calling migrants 'outsiders' hurts not just the people coming from other states but also those from other parts of Maharashtra who make Mumbai home. "Those who move out of Maharashtra to work elsewhere face the consequences of this rhetoric," he said.

He also criticised the BJP for practicing a brand of politics that polarises Hindu and Muslim groups, saying that such narratives, in fact, damage Mumbai's economic climate.

He also raised civic issues - potholed roads, vendor-related problems, corruption, education, healthcare, and pollution - that should be resolved instead of resorting to identity debates.

Mumbai Congress chief and Lok Sabha MP Varsha Gaikwad earlier said that 'certain parties' - the reference was clearly to the MNS - "take the law into their own hands".

Raj Thackeray's MNS and Uddhav Thackeray's Sena have grown closer together - after years of animosity and a family feud - after they claimed credit for forcing the BJP government to backtrack on contentious plans to make Hindi compulsory for Class I to V in state-run schools.

Plans were then made for the cousins to contest the BMC election together, prompting talk the MNS would, therefore, be inducted into the MVA bloc. That has not happened yet.