Congress conducts ‘opinion poll’ using technology to select Mumbai chief

Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said the party would take the inputs given on the calls into consideration while selecting the new city chief

Congress is seeking feedback of its Mumbai unit workers to select the new city chief. The party utilised technology to hold an interactive voice response call with its functionaries, as the top brass is looking to handpick a new chief by the month-end.

With elections to the civic body a mere 14 months away, the city unit of the party has not had a full-time president for more than a year. (HT File)

The idea of an opinion poll was to get a sense of what the workers want on the ground, said party functionaries. The leaders, including 227 block presidents and around 270 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) members, first received a message from HK Patil, the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Maharashtra, followed by a call to name one leader they want as Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC) chief. According to a Congress functionary, the process to select the chief has been completed. “Messages and calls went to about 500 people, including block presidents and PCC members. They were asked for one name for MRCC chief on the call,” said the functionary.

Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said the party would take the inputs given on the calls into consideration while selecting the new city chief. “It [interactive phone call] is not the only input being sought. Patil will also take other inputs as well,” Venugopal told HT. Patil, who met senior Congress leaders in Delhi on Thursday, is expected to submit the final report to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Former minister Arif Naseem Khan, Bhai Jagtap, along with functionaries Suresh Shetty and Charanjit Singh Sapra are among the frontrunners to bag the post. Party insiders said that the names of Varsha Gaikwad and Priya Dutt are also doing the rounds to strike a balance in the faction-ridden Congress unit.

With elections to the civic body a mere 14 months away, the city unit of the party has not had a full-time president for more than a year.

The post of MRCC chief is being held by Eknath Gaikwad, a two-time Lok Sabha member and Varsha’s father. He was made the acting president of the city unit in September 2019 after the party leadership accepted the resignation of Milind Deora in July.

Deora had replaced Sanjay Nirupam days ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in April 2019.