Amidst a verbal sparring match between Congress and Shiv Sena leadership over the exclusion of Naseem Khan as a candidate from the Mumbai North Central seat, the alliance’s official candidate and Mumbai Congress president, Varsha Gaikwad, submitted her nomination on Tuesday.
Varsha Gaikwad, representing the Congress, formally entered the fray by filing her nomination from the Mumbai North Central seat. Gaikwad, disheartened by the allocation of her home constituency, Mumbai South Central, to Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Anil Desai, was eventually offered a ticket by the party to contest from the North Central constituency.
Interestingly, Anil Parab, a prominent Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and close confidant of Uddhav Thackeray, emerged as the proposer of Varsha Gaikwad in her nomination papers. Parab not only endorsed Gaikwad but also escorted her to the nomination center. Sources within Shiv Sena revealed that Gaikwad's campaign office was initially intended to be established in Parab's Bandra (East) Shakha, yet encountered logistical hurdles leading to its postponement. This close association and backing from Parab have added substance to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge suggesting that Shiv Sena might have influenced Gaikwad's candidacy in North Central instead of Naseem Khan.
Following the announcement of Varsha Gaikwad's candidacy from the constituency, Naseem Khan tendered his resignation as a star campaigner of the Congress party. He expressed his disappointment over the party's failure to field a single Muslim candidate from the state.
In response to Khan's resignation, Congress chief Kharge remarked that when making decisions within an alliance, it's imperative to consider the perspectives of all allies. This statement has been construed as Kharge's acknowledgment that the Shiv Sena leadership influenced the substitution of Khan with Varsha Gaikwad.
Shiv Sena swiftly responded to Kharge's statement, asserting that it had no jurisdiction to interfere in the internal affairs of the Congress party. Furthermore, the ally emphasized that there was still time for the Congress to nominate Khan, as the filing of nominations remained open for three more days.
However, sources within the Shiv Sena, whom this reporter conversed with, concurred that Uddhav Thackeray played a pivotal role in securing Varsha Gaikwad's nomination from the North Central seat instead of Naseem Khan. Nonetheless, they contended that the opposition wasn't rooted in Khan's religious identity but rather in his perceived inability to garner Marathi votes in the constituency.
One Shiv Sena functionary, present at Varsha Gaikwad's nomination rally, asserted, "Naseem Khan won the last assembly election 10 years ago. Since then, he has not been able to get even a corporator of Congress elected in his constituencies (Kurla and Chandivli). He would not have been elected from here."
Despite asserting that he had no objections to Gaikwad's candidacy, Naseem Khan was notably absent from her nomination rally. However, other party leaders such as Husain Dalwai, Aslam Shaikh, and Priya Dutt accompanied Varsha Gaikwad during her nomination rally in Bandra East.
Despite the scorching heat, workers and supporters of INDIA bloc parties including Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (SCP), AAP, and SP enthusiastically participated in Varsha Gaikwad's nomination rally.