Aaditya Led to Deora Son-Set in Cong? How Things Went ‘South’ Mumbai for Gandhi Loyalist | Benefit Shinde Sena

Did Shiv Sena UBT leader and former cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray’s rally lead to former Minister of State (MoS) Milind Deora’s resignation from the Congress? Deora joined the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena on Sunday.

Deora is the son of the late Congress leader Murli Deora who was very close to the Gandhis. His resignation is being seen as a jolt to the Gandhi family, as Deora was considered to be close to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. In the past few weeks, there was unrest in Deora’s camp and especially in the Congress’s South Mumbai cadre about Deora being unhappy with state leaders.

A source in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) told this reporter that Deora took this decision because Shiv Sena UBT was not ready to leave the South Mumbai Lok Sabha seat for the Congress. After all, incumbent MP Arvind Sawant defeated Deora twice in 2014 and in 2019, when Deora contested on a Congress ticket.

Before the talks on the seat-sharing formula of the MVA could resume, Shiv Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut had taunted the Congress that they will have to start from scratch during the Lok Sabha elections and made claim to 23 seats, the same number as 2019.

AADITYA’S RALLY, DEORA’S WARNING

Two weeks ago, Thackeray held a rally in South Mumbai’s Girgaum and sounded the bugle of LS polls, urging voters of South Mumbai to back Shiv Sena UBT candidate and incumbent MP Arvind Sawant.

The rally caused unrest reported in the Deora camp. The next day, Deora released a small video in Marathi addressing his party workers and supporters about how the talks are still underway with alliance partners and nothing has been finalised yet. In the same video, without taking the name of Shiv Sena UBT, Deora warned people staking claim to the South Mumbai Lok Sabha seat before the MVA alliance talks were finalised. He also said if any party doesn’t have the patience to wait till seat-sharing talks are over, the Congress can also announce its candidate. But this warning from Deora didn’t work, which is why decided to quit the party and join Shinde Shiv Sena.

FATHER MURLI DEORA’S LEGACY

There was a time when the Deora family dominated the Mumbai Congress. Murli Deora was seen as the single point contact for the Gandhi family and the Congress High Command for all matters related to Mumbai.

Although Mumbai Congress has its separate office in town, during Murli Deora’s regime, Khetan Bhavan, his office in Churchgate was considered the Mumbai Congress’s office. After the death of Murli Deora, it was expected that Milind who had lost the 2014 general elections to Arvind Sawant on the South Mumbai seat would take more interest and work for the Mumbai Congress. He was also made the Mumbai Congress chief, but he couldn’t not perform as per expectations.

On the ground, Murli Deora had penetrated south Mumbai from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation-run schools, local madrassas, local self-help groups to Sarvajanik Ganesh Mandals. Deora, however, even as a two-time MP, he couldn’t replicate his father’s network of party workers and leaders, which even went against him in the 2014 and 2019 general elections.

SOUTH MUMBAI OR RS SEAT? DEORA’s POLITICAL MATH

South Mumbai is a unique constituency that has a sizable Muslim population. They are traditional voters of the Congress, but for the past two general elections, the community had voted for the Shiv Sena (when it was not split).

The dynamics of South Mumbai have changed from the 2014 elections, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerging as the dominant party in the Congress bastion. Deora was aware that if he joined the BJP, he might not get the support of Muslim voters, despite their support to the Congress and Deora family. So to take on Shiv Sena UBT, he joined the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, said sources.

It is also being said that the BJP may not give the South Mumbai seat to Shiv Sena , as Assembly Speaker Rahul Narawekar has shown interest in contesting the Lok Sabha polls. In such a scenario, Deora may get nominated to Rajya Sabha from the Shiv Sena quota, as the Rajya Sabha nominations are expected in June-July.