Congress city unit chief Varsha Gaikwad to contest from Mumbai North Central

Names of a number of senior party leaders were in circulation for this seat while Gaikwad was interested in contesting from Mumbai South Central, which covers her assembly seat Dharavi.

Two weeks ago, disputes within the Congress surfaced after Mumbai south central constituency went to Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena along with three other seats. The Congress had to content with Mumbai North Central and Mumbai North. Gaikwad had even blamed the party’s state leadership involved in seat-sharing talks for the less number of seats allotted to the party.

“The past is past. Whatever I wanted to say, I have said. The party is supreme and it has asked me to contest from Mumbai North Central. I thank the leadership for the trust shown on me,” she said.

Mumbai North Central constituency covers six assembly sengments — Vile Parle, Chandivli, Kurla (SC), Kalina, Bandra (East) and Bandra (West). Of these, Vile Parle and Bandra (West) are with the BJP, Chandivli and Kurla (SC) are with Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena while Kalina is with Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena and Bandra (east) was won by the Congress’ Zeeshan Siddique, whose father has joined hands with ruling NCP led by Ajit Pawar.

In the BJP, along with Mahajan, the names of Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar and senior counsel Ujjwal Nikam are also being discussed.