Congress MLA writes to party high command against Mumbai party chief Ashok Jagtap

The tradition of infighting in the Mumbai Congress seems to continue with complaints lodged against recently appointed city Congress chief Ashok Jagtap

The tradition of infighting in the Mumbai Congress seems to continue with complaints lodged against recently appointed city Congress chief Ashok Jagtap. Congress’s Bandra (East) MLA Zeeshan Siddique has written a letter to party high command, complaining against Jagtap’s partisan approach towards him. Shaikh also alleged that Jagtap did not follow the protocol during public functions and supported party workers who worked against him in 2019 Assembly polls.

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In the letter to party chief Sonia Gandhi, former chief Rahul Gandhi, Siddique has reportedly alleged that Jagtap, after becoming the Mumbai chief in December last year, appointed local leaders who had worked against him during Assembly polls. The 28-year legislator and son of former minister Baba Siddique has also accused Jagtap of having threatened party workers to not support him during the Mumbai Youth Congress elections held last year.

Siddique refused to comment on it while adding that he expects the appropriate steps to be taken by the party leadership. “It would not be appropriate to speak on the internal communication to the party leadership. I am not aware how did it got leaked, but I had marked the copies of the mailed letter to state and Mumbai leaders too,” he said.

Jagtap said, “We believe in democracy and the channels to make complaints to high command are always open. I will speak to Siddique to redress his grievances as chief of Mumbai unit. If the party leadership asked me about it, I will explain my stand on it. He is talking about the breach of protocol, but I have been receiving similar complaints against him from the workers from his constituency. Secondly, he has complained for not inviting him at a programme held at BKC recently. He cannot blame me for it, as it was not Mumbai Congress’s event, but was organised by Indian Youth Congress.”

He added, “As far as his complaint about me supporting his competitor Suraj Singh Thakur in the Youth Congress elections is concerned, the election was held before I became Mumbai president. As a leader I supported Thakur as I feel he is a better leader, keeping party interest in mind.”

Recently, Siddique had a spat with transport minister and Shiv Sena leader Anil Parab for not calling him for an inauguration of vaccination centre in Bandra.