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 the post. She is replacing MLC Bhai Jagtap.
Gaikwad now faces the daunting task of rejuvenating the cadre ahead of elections to the civic body as well as Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly. Elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), long due, are expected to be held before the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, reports Press Trust Of India.
“I agree that we have less time to prepare for the polls but I will give our best. We have an organisation in place, the only thing is to take all the leaders along and work together and give our best,” said Gaikwad after her appointment was announced.
Who is Varsha Gaikwad?
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.
She worked as a lecturer at the Siddharth College of Arts, Science and Commerce here before entering politics. She holds a master's degree in mathematics.
She was a minister first in the Democratic Front government of the Congress and NCP and later in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government of the Congress, NCP, and Shiv Sena.
Gaikwad I want to thank Congress President Shri @kharge ji , Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji, Shri @RahulGandhi ji, Smt. @priyankagandhi ji and the entire Congress parivar for making an ordinary Congress worker's daughter, a Dalit woman the president of the Mumbai Congress. This can only happen in…
— Prof. Varsha Eknath Gaikwad (@VarshaEGaikwad) June 9, 2023 that it was an 'emotional moment' for her to step into the very position that her father once held after the announcement.
"My father lived by the slogan 'Hum Sab Ek Hain'. He believed that the politics of unity, development and harmony always triumphs over hate. I believe this too," she added.
The 48-year-old leader has held several portfolios in the successive Congress-NCP government in the past. She was minister of state for higher and technical education and within a year was promoted to cabinet minister with the crucial women and child development department. In the erstwhile MVA government, she was the school education minister.
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