Varsha Gaikwad becomes Mumbai Congress chief ahead of civic polls, first woman to hold post

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Four-time MLA Varsha Gaikwad who was appointed as Mumbai Congress chief on Friday faces a 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.

Gaikwad replaced Bhai Jagtap as the city Congress chief. Incidentally, she is the first woman to hold this post. The Congress could not win a single seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Mumbai. The country's financial capital has six Lok Sabha and 36 Assembly seats.

Gaikwad (48) represents Dharavi — known as the country's biggest slum cluster — in the Assembly. 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 Maha Vikas Aghadi government of the Congress, NCP, and Shiv Sena. Gaikwad's father late Eknath Gaikwad had served as Maharashtra Congress chief during 2017-2020.