Young, old clash in Mumbai Congress | Economic Times

Trouble is brewing within the Mumbai Congress with its young and old leaders blaming each other for not following the party protocols. The party MLA from Bandra East, Zeeshan Siddique, has written letters to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi complaining against Mumbai Congress president Ashok Jagtap’s style of functioning.In the letter to Sonia Gandhi, Zeeshan pointed out that Jagtap had ‘rewarded’ four Congress leaders with plum organisational posts even though they had worked with his rivals during the 2019 assembly polls. Zeeshan, in his letter, stated that the four should have been expelled from the party for working against the official party candidate. Zeeshan also pointed out that the Mumbai Congress chief had organised a party function in his constituency but did not even invite him. Congress leaders said that this is not the first letter written by Zeeshan to the Congress chief. The infighting could prove problematic with the Mumbai Civic elections just seven months away. Factionalism has been rife in the Mumbai Congress for several years now. Actress Urmila Matondkar quit the party after the 2019 parliamentary polls citing ‘petty politics’. Interestingly prior to her resignation, Urmila had, in a letter to the party brass, pointed out that the party rewarded all those who had worked against her during the elections, with party posts.Zeeshan was not available for comments despite repeated attempts. Taking on Zeeshan, Jagtap told ET that he was the one who had not been following protocol. “I have been the Mumbai Congress president for 5 months and I can say that he (Zeeshan) has not been following any protocol. I have given 40 years to the party; he has just become an MLA,” said Jagtap.Jagtap added that the Bandra East function was not held by the Mumbai Congress but by the Mumbai Youth Congress.