Mumbai: The Congress leadership has been accused of not standing up to its ally Shiv Sena (UBT) in seat-sharing negotiations. Local leaders and grassroots say the party fell short – far too short – in Mumbai.

According to a deal between the three constituents of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), the Sena (UBT) bagged 21 seats, while the Congress ended up with just 10 seats out of a total of 36.

Congress workers blame their senior leadership for bowing to pressure from their alliance partner as they believed they would bag at least 18 seats in their pact with the Sena (UBT) and the Nationalist Congress Party (SP).

Members of the group also accused their leaders of fielding the wrong candidates in many constituencies, further diminishing their prospects in the country’s financial capital and the city where the Congress was born 137 years ago. To register their protest, several office bearers from Mumbai staged a protest outside the Congress office in Mumbai on Sunday.

Out of the 10 seats allotted to it, the Congress has announced candidates in 9 constituencies. He is expected to announce his candidate for Colaba on Monday.

The Congress was chasing Vandre East, Versova, Byculla and Colaba, but all three were claimed by the Sena (UBT). “We have been fighting the Sena for years in Mumbai, even in municipal elections and dominated the polls till a few years ago. Mumbai was a Sena stronghold until the party split. With the Sena (UBT) on the back foot after the split, the Congress missed an opportunity in our negotiations with them,” said a senior Congress leader.

The city’s Congress leaders, including Varsha Gaikwad, Aslam Shaikh and Arif Naseem Khan, protected their own interests by getting the seats they wanted and securing an assurance of support from the Sena (UBT), but failed to negotiate for more places. “Leaders have been subdued since negotiations began,” added the senior party leader.

Another insider said the Congress leaders did not even fight for Vandre East, where they have a sitting MLA. Besides, party leaders have also awarded seats where Congress candidates came second to Sena (UBT) in previous elections. “They didn’t even ask for Goregaon, where the Congress had come second,” the party leader said.

The Congress city leadership was also accused of not fielding the right candidates in many constituencies. “For example, in Vandre West, Rajesh Sharma was a better bet than Asif Zakaria. Also, our Andheri West candidate Sachin Sawant backed out after being nominated from the constituency. The party eventually fielded former MLA Ashok Jadhav, but the fool has done irreparable damage to the party’s prospects in the constituency,” the party leader said.

Had he accepted the nomination, Sawant, a Congress general secretary, would have faced BJP’s Ameet Satam. Sawant had eyed the Vandre East constituency and set up an office there a few months ago. Party leaders say fielding a candidate who did not want a particular seat is a significant setback for the Congress. Sawant said, “I have asked the party leadership to think again as there is a lot of resistance from local party leaders.”

The party insider also claimed that the Congress candidates fielded in Kandivali and Charkop will not be able to fight strongly. “Party leaders like Aslam Shaikh and Amin Patel insisted on seats like Versova (where Aslam wanted his son-in-law to contest) and Byculla and were very pushy in the initial talks. Later, they gave in quite easily.”

Sena (UBT) leader Sushama Andhare said, “We are contesting more seats in Mumbai as part of the deal between the three alliance partners. The Sena (UBT) has given up many constituencies in Nanded, Latur and Beed to our two allies even though they have won seats there in 2019. This is because our common objective is to defeat the BJP. It is no different in Mumbai as we have better chances of winning than Congress as our candidates have better electoral merit. This was the formula agreed upon by the leaders of all three parties.”

Meanwhile, the NCP (SP) has announced candidates from two constituencies, including Mankhurd-Shivajinagar, where it has fielded its sitting MLA Abu Asim Azmi. The opposition Mahayuti alliance is expected to concede this seat to the Samajwadi Party. MVA is undecided on Borivali and Mulund constituencies.

In 2 places, it’s MVA versus MVA

With the announcement of the new lists, the alliance partners of Maha Vikas Aghadi find themselves pitted against each other in at least two constituencies. In Solapur South, the Congress has fielded Dilip Mane, while the Shiv Sena (UBT) has already announced Amar Patil as its candidate. In Paranda, the seat will be contested by both Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP), as the former has announced Ranjit Patil as its candidate, while Rahul Mote represents the latter.

Meanwhile, the Congress has fielded two of its candidates. Sachin Sawant expressed his inability to attend from Andheri West in Mumbai. Former MLA Ashok Jadhav took his place. In Aurangabad East, the party replaced Manohar Deshmukh with Lahu Shewale.

The Congress also announced the candidature of Bhagirath Bhalke, son of former MLA Bharat Bhalke from Pandharpur; Dattatrey Bahirat of Shivajinagar; and Sandeep Pandey of Nalasopara. Abdul Sattar Abdul Gafur is the party’s candidate from Nanded North; Pravin Kakade of Warora; Santoshsing Rawat of Ballarpur; Pravin Padwekar of Chandrapur; Ramdas Masram of Armori; Sanjay Meshram from Umred; and Anil Shinde of Amalner.