Eight former corporators – six from Congress, one from Shiv Sena (UBT) and another from Samajwadi party – joined the Shiv Sena on Saturday, in the presence of chief minister Eknath Shinde. Joining the team were also former MLA Tukaram Kate and his wife Anagha of Shiv Sena (UBT). The event took place at the CM’s official residence, on the occasion of the death anniversary of Shinde’s guru, Anand Dighe.
Mumbai Congress’s working president Charansingh Sapra said, “It is unfortunate that they are leaving after serving the party for so long. Our minority wing president Babbu Khan is also leaving us. We have to introspect how ‘khoke sarkar’ managed to get them.”The majority of them belong to the Dharavi assembly segment, which is the home turf of Mumbai Regional Congress President Varsha Gaikwad.
The former corporators who resigned from the party membership are Pushpa Koli from Sion Koliwada, Bhaskar Shetti, Babbu Khan and Kunal Mane from Dharavi and Vajid Kurashi from Chandivali. They have blamed Gaikawad's “autocratic style” of working for their decision to join Shinde camp. Another former corporator of Congress from Andheri Sushama Rai, had earlier joined the Shinde camp. This latest defection from the Congress party is seen as a blow to its unit in the city. The Shinde camp is likely to induct more former corporators before the municipal elections to be in a good bargaining position with the BJP and NCP.