Within hours of the Haryana Assembly election results on October 8, a few allies of the Congress asked the party to “introspect its over-confidence”. Political sources in Maharashtra said that leaders from even the Uddhav Thackeray Sena questioned the Congress’ ability to put up a good show in the forthcoming elections in Maharashtra.
Now, the Haryana election results are echoing in Dharavi, where there are already rumblings of ‘nepotism’ and ‘high-handedness’ by sitting Member of Parliament from Congress, Varsha Gaikwad.
Amid political buzz that Varsha Gaikwad is pitching for her sister Jyoti Gaikwad for a Congress ticket to contest the Assembly elections from Dharavi, the Aam Aadmi Party’s Mumbai leader Advocate Sandeep Katke, in a video, launched a scathing attack on the entire Gaikwad family.
Veteran Congress politician and Varsha’s father, Eknath Gaikwad, represented Dharavi since 1985. He died due to Covid in 2021. Now, Varsha’s sister Jyoti Girigosavi has reverted to her maiden name Jyoti Gaikwad, ostensibly in a bid to cash in on the Gaikwad name. It is also said that Varsha Gaikwad is propping her brother to contest from Sion Koliwada.
Attacking the Gaikwad family in the recently released video, Katke said, “The family that ruled Dharavi for the last 40 years has done nothing for Dharavi. How many schools did these people build? What did they do to create facilities for women? How many playgrounds have been built for kids?” Katke said that the family – referring to the Gaikwads – “only created chamchas who run around them”. He said, “There is no leadership in Dharavi. They (Varsha) spent Rs 3 crore on banners during Ganpati and now in Navratri again, crores of rupees were spent on banners.
Where did this money come from? Whose money is this?”
Again referring to Varsha Gaikwad and the Congress party, Katke said they are nowhere to be seen in the “fight against illegal redevelopment” in Dharavi. “Has this special family and this special party ever come on the road to right this so-called redevelopment? I pray that people of Dharavi see sense and reject this family,” he said.
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