Congress appoints Ashraf Azmi as group leader in BMC

Mumbai, Jan 19 (PTI) The Congress on Monday appointed three-time corporator Ashraf Azmi as the group leader of the party in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Talking to PTI, Congress MLA Amin Patel said the party will convene a meeting of candidates who lost, many of them by slender margins, to discuss the situation and prepare for future challenges.

Azmi, who won from Kurla, has been made the Congress group leader in the new civic body, he said.

The Congress, which allied with the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), RSP, and RPI (Gavai) in the recently held polls, logged its historically lowest tally, managing just 24 seats in the 227-member BMC.

The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance won a clear majority in the cash-rich civic body, clinching 89 and 29 seats, respectively, while the Shiv Sena (UBT) won 65 seats, and its ally, MNS, emerged victorious on six.

"We can pick future leaders from among this group who fought the elections amid several constraints. We have to strengthen our organisation at the grassroots," Patel said.

He said that the Mumbai Congress leadership met the newly elected corporators and briefed them on the civic administration and their responsibilities. PTI MR ARU