The city Congress suffered a setback with one of its senior Muslim leader Javed Shroff joining the Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar). Shroff, who has his base among Muslims of central Mumbai and other areas, was active in the Congress for several years and was well networked with all-India leaders of the party.
On Tuesday he was welcomed by Ajit Pawar and senior NCP leader Sunil Tatkare. According to sources, Shroff is likely to be fielded by NCP (Ajit Pawar) as its candidate in Mumbadevi against sitting MLA Amin Patel of the Congress. The BJP was earlier active in this sensitive assembly constituency, but over the years its clout in this area has been on the wane. In the recent Lok Sabha elections the BJP-backed candidate Yamini Jadhav of the Shiv Sena (Shinde) was trailing behind sitting M.P. Arvind Sawant by over 41,000 votes in the Mumbadevi segment. Jadhav is the sitting.
Though the BJP has not conceded Mumbadevi seat to its ally, the NCP (Ajit Pawar) indications are that it may ultimately do that during the seat-sharing talks. A section of the BJP is of the opinion that since the constituency has a large number of Muslim voters it will be better that the seat be given to NCP (Ajit Pawar) so that the latter may field Muslim nominee in this seat. It is learnt that Ajit Pawar has assured Shroff that he will persuade the BJP to let him field him (Shroff) from this politically-sensitive constituency. When contacted, Shroff said ``I will abide by the decision of Ajit Pawarji. I have excellent credentials both politically and socially and am confident of winning the seat, if granted the party ticket." Also, there are dissensions within the local unit of the BJP with regard to the choice of candidate.
Meanwhile, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has approached several maulanas in an effort to get them to endorse candidates of the Aghadi in the upcoming elections. A meeting is expected to be held in this regard on Friday. In the Lok Sabha elections Muslims had backed MVA nominees in a big way and that was an important factor in their victory. The MVA is hoping for a repeat performance in the assembly elections. But, the NCP (Ajit Pawar), which has a base among Muslims, may play spoilsport in Mumbadevi, Mankhur-Shivaji Nagar, Deonar and a few other constituencies.
