Chavan loses face, but may not lose chair

Despite the debacle of Congress party in the Mumbai municipal polls, the Central leadership still has confidence in Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, who was actively involved in the elections

Despite the debacle of Congress party in the Mumbai municipal polls, the Central leadership still has confidence in Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, who was actively involved in the elections.


Big loss: Chief Minister Prithiviraj Chavan was actively involved in the
campaigning for the BMC elections in Mumbai. File pic

Several senior leaders in the Congress party have been skeptical about Chavan's policies and working style as a Chief Minister. But putting all the assumptions at rest, Congress Spokesperson Rashid Alvi told MiD DAY that there was no question of looking for other options. "We will analyse the reasons for the defeat. However, the question of replacing the CM over doesn't arise at all," he said.

Alvi added, "As BJP and Shiv Sena have been ruling there for the past 15 years, they had an edge over us. Besides, the Saffron alliance didn't get a clear mandate in Mumbai, and the Congress' performance in rural and other civic bodies is praiseworthy."

However, many in the Congress fear that the Mumbai poll verdict may cast an effect on Congress' performance in UP and other states that are facing elections.

The BJP, on the other hand, attributed the win to Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray. "It is the victory of his charismatic leadership," said BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar. He added that the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance is getting stronger by the day. When asked how will they manage to reach the magic number. He said, "That should not be a problem at all. We will do it."

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