Rahul asks Mumbai Cong to take up issues faced during monsoon

Mumbai: Rahul Gandhi, who has resigned as Congress president, Thursday held a brief discussion with party leaders in Mumbai, in which he asked them to aggressively take up issues faced by citizens during monsoon.

Gandhi was in the city to appear in a local court in a defamation case. The 49-year-old leader, who had announced his resignation as the Congress president on Wednesday, also discussed the party’s preparation for the upcoming Assembly polls in Maharashtra.

Mumbai Congress president Milind Deora and party legislators from the city were present at the airport to receive Gandhi and see him off.

A party leader, who was present at the airport after the court hearing at Sewree said, “Rahulji appeared relaxed and took updates from us about the preparations for the assembly polls.”

“He also asked us to aggressively take up the issue of problems faced by Mumbaikars during the monsoons. We told him about the issues raised by us during the just-concluded monsoon session of the state legislature,” the leader added.

Gandhi said the party should hit the streets to highlight the problems faced by citizens during rains, he said.

The leader also said that the city unit informed Gandhi about the announcement by Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Agadhi (VBA) to “give” 40 seats to the Congress for the assembly polls.

“He told us that instead of focussing on the vote share of other parties like Vanchit Aghadi or MNS, it would be better if Congress leaders focus on improving its own vote share,” another leader said on the condition of anonymity.