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.
Congress stamps on the decision to go solo, Shiv Sena UBT says, will fight them too
“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.
