Mumbai Congress gets first woman head

When the AICC named Prof Varsha Gaikwad as the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC) president - the reason was very clear - she is a grassroot leader, would take everyone along and put an end to factionalism.

In the Congress set up, the Mumbai Congress or MRCC is considered one of the most influential units of the grand old party in country.

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Prof Gaikwad is a four-term MLA from Dharavi, one of the biggest slum localities of the world.

Incidentally, she is the daughter of late Eknath Gaikwad, a former MP, who too had been MRCC President from 2017-2020.

She is the first lady MRCC president and her presidency will be the first father-daughter combination to have occupied the prestigious post.

A former teacher, she was a lecturer in the Siddharth College of Arts, Science and Commerce.

She had been minister in the erstwhile Democratic Front government and the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi dispensation and had handled portfolios like Medical Education, Higher and Technical Education, Tourism, Special Assistance, Women and Child Development.

When the Covid-19 pandemic swept Mumbai, she led from the front in Dharavi in combating the pandemic.

Hailing from an Ambedkarite-Buddhist family, she is a grassroots leader.

Prof Gaikwad replaces Bhai Jagtap, a trade unionist and an MLC.

The Mumbai Congress has several lobbies led by Jagtap, the current president and former presidents like Sanjay Nirupam and Milind Deora.

In fact, Deora’s father Murli Deora, a Nehru-Gandhi family loyalist, had also been an MRCC President.

One of the influential MRCC Presidents - Gurudas Kamat had passed away a few years ago while Kripashankar Singh had switched to BJP.