Mutiny in ranks

Joshi and Navalkar called on former Mumbai mayor Chandrakant Padwal to pacify him. But Padwal ignored their efforts. He has filed his papers from Opera House, South Mumbai, against official party nominee Arvind Nerkar. ‘‘Padwal was in no mood to listen,’’ Navalkar told Express.

Nirupam had a long, futile meet with Ramesh Prabhu, another former mayor. Prabhu will oppose saffron nominee Vinayak Raut from the Vile Parle seat. ‘‘We are shocked at the number of rebels,’’ said a Sena leader.

There’s rebellion brewing in the Congress, too. Miffed at being denied tickets, Youth Congress workers have decided to refrain from participating in the campaign. Terming the party as being ‘‘more communal than the BJP,’’ these activists have indicated that they will work towards the defeat of official candidates.

‘‘Who says the Congress is secular? Why are tickets being distributed on caste and religion basis,’’ is the angry echo. A YC delegation will meet party president Sonia Gandhi early next week to lodge their protest against the ‘‘high-handedness’’ of the state leadership in selecting the candidates. ‘‘Madam has been misled and misguided by the state leadership. If they think that the YC is only for slogan-shouting and burning effigies, they are wrong. Madam has to consider our aspirations too,’’ said one YC functionary.

Though the youth wing has rarely received fair representation in governance, this is the first time they are openly voicing their dissent.

The seeds of the YC rebellion started in Maharashtra with an angry demonstration outside the state Congress headquarters Tilak Bhavan on Tuesday. It has now gathered momentum in other parts of the state as well. While the Maharashtra unit of the YC had demanded 15 Assembly seats in the state, the Mumbai unit had sought five city seats.

Senior Congress leaders say the rebellion should be contained otherwise it will jeopardise the party’s chances at the hustings. The president of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee Youth Congress, Charanjeet Singh Sapra — a contender for the Mulund Assembly seat — confirmed the rebellion saying: ‘‘It is difficult to convince our activists to campaign for the candidates when their aspirations have been hit.’’