Gaikwad is one of only four Congress MLAs in Mumbai. The party does not have a single MP in the total six constituencies in Mumbai.
Four-term MLA from Mumbai’s Dharavi constituency, Varsha Gaikwad (48), was named Mumbai Congress president on Friday, making her the first woman to hold hte post, replacing MLC Bhai Jagtap.
Daughter of former Mumbai Congress chief and Lok Sabha MP, late Eknath Gaikwad, Varsha made her political debut in 2004 winning the Assembly elections. Since then she has never lost the Dharavi (SC) seat.
A prominent Dalit face of the party and a professor by profession, Varsha was school Education Minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government headed by Uddhav Thackeray. She was made the minister of state for the medical education and higher and technical education departments in 2009, while in 2010, she was made minister for women and child development.
You have exhausted your
monthly limit of free stories.
To continue reading,
simply register or sign in
Subscribe to read on
Select your plan
All-Access
Access to premium stories
Digital Only
Access to premium stories
This premium article is free for now.
Register to continue reading this story.
This content is exclusive for our subscribers.
Subscribe to get unlimited access to The Indian Express exclusive and premium stories.
This content is exclusive for our subscribers.
Subscribe now to get unlimited access to The Indian Express exclusive and premium stories.
Despite the party’s poor performance in the 2014 Assembly polls in Mumbai, she maintained her winning streak in Dharavi and later in 2019. After the formation of the MVA government, she was made minister for school education.
Gaikwad is one of only four Congress MLAs in Mumbai. The party does not have a single MP in the total six constituencies in Mumbai. She will now be responsible to lead the party into the BMC elections as well as Lok Sabha polls.
The process to remove Bhai Jagtap from the post began after the 2022 state council polls when Congress’ Chandrakant Handore lost the elections, despite being named the first candidate by the party. A committee under senior party leader Ramesh Chennithala made serious criticisms against Jagtap over the loss of Handore.
First published on: 09-06-2023 at 20:25 IST
