Mumbai, May 17 (PTI) With less than a year to go for the crucial Mumbai civic elections, factionalism is delaying the appointment of the next city Congress committee president to replace Kripashankar Singh, who is battling corruption charges.
Even though party MPs Eknath Gaikwad and Milind Deora have emerged as frontrunners for the post, they are being strongly opposed by the faction owing allegiance to the Union Minister of State for Home and Telecom, Gurudas Kamat.
Deora, a two-term MP from Mumbai South is the son of Union Minister Murli Deora, who held the city unit chief's post for 22 years, while Gaikwad, who represents Mumbai South Central parliamentary constituency, is close to the Deora camp.
Last month, Congress retained Manikrao Thakre as Maharashtra unit president, but kept Singh's fate hanging in a balance.