Why Congress walks out of MVA in Mumbai — and how it reshapes the civic contest

Congress on Saturday (December 20, 2025) formally pulled the plug on the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) by announcing that it will go solo in the upcoming municipal corporation elections in Mumbai. The elections to the country’s richest municipal body are scheduled for next month.

While the move had been anticipated for some time, it has changed the electoral combinations in a multipolar contest where all parties have high stakes.

“We will fight against the BJP and the Uddhav Sena,” Maharashtra Congress in-charge Ramesh Chennithala announced, refraining from taking the name of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray. The Congress is staunchly against seeing a poll partner in the MNS chief. It upsets their core vote bank, consisting of Muslims, the North Indian population settled in Mumbai.

Shiv Sena UBT was hoping to rope in the Congress, even as Uddhav Thackeray’s cousin Raj Thackeray is likely to be in alliance. The seat-sharing talks haven’t yet culminated there. While Sena UBT tried to request Sharad Pawar to mediate for a truce with Congress, the local leadership of the national party was already hurt and resolute on going alone. It was upsetting that Uddhav Thackeray unilaterally spoke with Raj Thackeray without taking Congress in confidence. Also, traditionally, the Congress has fought against the Sena-BJP combine in Mumbai.

While Sharad Pawar said in his public appearances that it was important to fight the elections together, senior leaders in Congress said that the veteran leader did not approach them with any such proposal. A delegation of Congress had met Mr Pawar a few days ago though, requesting his support for the Mumbai elections.

For the NCP SP supremo, the stakes are very little in Mumbai. NCP has been a Maratha party with a stronghold in the rural regions, particularly in western Maharashtra. The Mumbai municipal corporation was barely on its political landscape till now.

That is not the case for the Thackeray cousins, who fight a battle of existence this time. The united Shiv Sena has ruled over BMC for decades now. After a split in the party, though the ground cadre continues to support Uddhav Thackeray, that is not enough to fight the money power of Eknath Shinde and the BJP. To counter that, and to assert ‘Brand Thackeray’, the cousins have had to overcome their acrimonious past to come together.

While Eknath Shinde tried to negotiate with Mr. Raj Thackeray to bring him onboard to counter Mr. Uddhav Thackeray, it did not work out. So, Eknath Shinde has been ‘spending sleepless nights’ to bring about a strategy to fight the Thackerays for the Marathi manoos votebank in the core areas of Mumbai.

For the BJP, the battle is the smoothest. While Mr. Shinde will fight the Thackeray cousins for the same votebank, BJP’a core voter continues to support the party, giving it an edge over Mr. Shinde in Mumbai. That is why, to allay Mr. Shinde’s fears, CM Devendra Fadnavis had indicated a few weeks ago that the BJP would not insist on numbers to decide on the mayor of Mumbai.