Congress prepares action plan for Mumbai civic elections

Mumbai, Jul 20: Central leadership of Congress has asked the city unit to work in unison to capture power in the poll-bound Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and Vice President Rahul Gandhi is personally looking into preparations for the big battle early next year, a party leader today said.

At a recent meeting in New Delhi, the Congress high command asked party leaders from Mumbai to shun differences and work unitedly to win the country's richest civic body, ruled by the Shiv Sena-BJP combine for over two decades.

Accordingly, a detailed action plan aimed at winning the election has been prepared, he said. Rahul is personally monitoring the developments in Mumbai and would visit the city to mobilise party cadres before the actual campaigning starts, the leader said.

"Rahul had invited a few prominent leaders from Mumbai for a meeting in Delhi. AICC member Gurudas Kamat, former MP Milind Deora, MRCC President Sanjay Nirupam, ex-Minister Nasim Khan, former MP Eknath Gaikwad and former Minister Varsha Gaikwad were among those who attended the meeting.

"Rahul urged the leaders to end factionalism and work in unison. The meeting lasted for several hours during which finer details of poll preparation were discussed. The meeting ended on a positive note," he added.

As a follow up, senior Congress leaders in Mumbai had two meetings in the past 10 days during which they chalked out a grand plan to dislodge the saffron combine from power in BMC, whose annual budget size is bigger than that of some states, the leader said.

Meanwhile, the party will highlight the issue of potholes in the coming days and has planned to form a human chain on the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on August 20 as part of worker mobilisation programme. Rahul may visit the city in October or November, the leader said.

PTI