Mumbai In an indication that the Congress may be open to political alliances in the elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) due later this year, the two-day conclave of the party has expressed its willingness for such tie-ups, albeit on the party’s terms.
The Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC) held a two-day ‘Navsankalp shibir’ at Panvel on Sunday and Monday.
The political group of the party, under its working president Charan Singh Sapra, discussed issues related to Mumbai with the BMC elections in mind.
“In line with the guidelines of the Udaipur Navsankalp declaration, (the) Indian National Congress can work on crafting alliances with like-minded parties. In dire times such as these, the primary reason to forge such an alliance can be to keep the pseudo-national and communal forces at bay. But such alliances should not be effectuated at the expense of our party’s values and interests. While making such attempts, the party’s presence and organisational strength across blocks should be given primary importance,” said the political resolution approved at the meeting. However, it added that the final decision will be Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s.
However, on the record, MRCC president Bhai Jagtap has stressed that the party would want to go alone and contest all the 236 seats.
The Congress has also promised to work on issues like free drinking water for slums, commissioning of water desalination plants and round-the-clock water supply and upgradation of health and education facilities. Worried at its traditional voters drifting away, the party will work on rebuilding its base in the north Indians, Rajasthanis, south Indians, Dalits and Muslims.
The Congress also attacked the Narendra Modi-led union government over the targeted killings of Hindu minorities in the Kashmir valley and the government’s inability to protect them.
“Over the past few months, a rapid increase has been witnessed in killings of innocents including targeted killings of minorities in the valley of Kashmir. Such killings have, once again as a grim reminder of the 1990s, forced members of the minority Hindu community to leave their havens and hearths,” the resolution said, while condemning acts of violence and terror.
“At the same time, the group also called out the BJP government’s miserable failure at handling the situation. The group opined that the BJP government’s double-faced approach of only exploiting emotions of a community but in reality doing nothing to save them stands exposed,” it charged.