Cracks in Congess over propping up Sena in BMC

“I take strong objection to any discussion even of having any tie up or indirect support to the Shiv Sena in the BMC,” party’s former city chief Gurudas Kamat said, adding he has informed Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi of his opinion. 

With the bitterly fought elections to BMC resulting in a fractured verdict, thinking is strong in the Maharashstra Congress that it should consider the option of enabling the Shiv Sena to foist its candidate as mayor of the city, as a tactical move to sharpen the rift in the saffron camp. The Congress strategists who mooted the idea are also of the view that this move could push the Devendra Fadnavis government into a deep crisis as Sena would be forced to break out of the alliance in such a scenario. Playing it safe, MPCC president Ashok Chavan on Friday signalled Sena to first pull out of the BJP-led government and his party would take a call after that. 

Kamat, who crossed swords with city Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam ahead of the campaign for the civic polls, said the party had fought against both the Sena and the BJP all along for their divisive policies and attempts to align with them will backfire.