Maha Vikas Aghadi will win Mumbai civic polls, says Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad Premium

Interview with Varsha Gaikwad, prominent Dalit face of the Congress and four-time MLA from the country‘s biggest slum cluster, Dharavi, who became the first woman president of the Mumbai Congress unit and says Maha Vikas Aghadi will secure victory in the Mumbai civic polls because people prioritise basic civic amenities over communal and divisive politics.

Varsha Gaikwad (48), a four-time MLA from the country‘s biggest slum cluster, Dharavi, became the first woman president of the Mumbai Congress unit on Friday.

A prominent Dalit face of the Congress, and daughter of former Mumbai Congress chief and Lok Sabha MP, late Eknath Gaikwad, a minister first in the Democratic Front government of the Congress-NCP in 2009 and later in Maha Vikas Aghadi in 2019. Her appointment comes ahead of the crucial Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections with the daunting task of re-energising the party, which has lost all six Lok Sabha seats and managed to win only four Assembly seats in Mumbai. The party won only 31 of 227 corporator seats in the 2017 Mumbai civic polls.

Ms. Gaikwad is confident that together, the MVA would secure victory in the Mumbai civic polls and said people prioritised basic civic amenities over communal and divisive politics. A professor of mathematics, who has never lost the Dharavi seat since her debut in 2004 despite the party’s poor performance in the 2014 and 2019 elections, Ms. Gaikwad also raises concerns over the Dharavi Redevelopment Project’s tender having been awarded to the Adani Group, following the Hindenburg Report, and was apprehensive about the possibility of development being halted midway.

Excerpts:

How do you view your appointment as Mumbai Congress president ahead of the crucial Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls?

It is undoubtedly a challenge. With elections approaching, time is of the essence, and my priority is to connect with the party cadre and voters as soon as possible. We have a good cadre and dedicated leaders on the ground, my job is to bring them together and reinforce the party’s strength. Concurrently, we have to address the concerns of Mumbaikars, such as roads, water facilities, toilets, trains, the metro rail project, the coastal road project, and tackling traffic issues, among other pressing issues.

What lesson have you learned from the Karnataka polls, and how will they impact the BMC polls?