Split in Congress shows at Sonia's Mumbai rally

IMAGE TAKES A HIT: A TV grab of Congress workers fighting in Sonia's rally at Goregaon.

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Mumbai: Sonia Gandhi’s rally in Mumbai was supposed to boost the party but instead she got a front-seat view of the feud between different factions in the party.

Congress workers supporting Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and his Revenue Minister Narayan Rane shouted abuses at each other, threw chairs and bottles and also targeted the media at the rally in Goregaon.

Sonia, the party president, arrived at the rally at 1645 hrs IST and within 20 minutes her party workers created a ruckus. Senior state Congress leaders unsuccessfully tried to pacify the irritated party delegates. In fact, so loud was the slogan shouting that the opening speeches by Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Deshmukh were barely audible.

Around 1,500 Congress delegates had come to the daylong rally, which was supposed to be an informal beginning of the party’s campaign for the General Elections in 2009.

The Congress president sat through the ruckus patiently on the dais, waiting for her party workers to settle down before the meeting could start.

The ruckus lasted for around 20 minutes and ended when Congress leader Magaret Alva appealed the party workers to behave and stop fighting. The Congress workers were also peeved at a media enclosure which they said was blocking their view of the dais, thereby preventing them from having a glimpse of their leader.

Rane, a former CM in Shiv Sena-BJP government, left the Sena to join Congress in 2005 and is a known detractor of Deshmukh.