The resignation of former MP and senior party leader Milind Deora from the Congress is set to disrupt the party’s Lok Sabha campaign in Mumbai, just months ahead of the upcoming general elections.

The move may see several other sulking leaders within the party follow Deora’s footsteps and cause damage to the Mumbai Congress in particular. Deora joined the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

Here are five possible effects Deora’s departure may have on the Mumbai unit of the Congress:

Deora, though not a mass leader, enjoys considerable clout within the Congress, especially in South Mumbai. The corporators, MLAs and leaders of this region have owed allegiance to the Deoras, including Milind’s father Murli, who was the Mumbai mayor and later a Union Cabinet minister, for generations.

His departure from the party could lead to an exodus that would damage the party considerably. At least 10 former corporators of Mumbai and leaders of South Mumbai are believed to be set to follow him to the ruling party.

A group within the Mumbai Congress has been unhappy since Varsha Gaikwad, a four-time Dharavi MLA, was made the president of the Mumbai unit of the party. This group is spread across the city and many may find opportunities to jump ship to the ruling party along with Deora, with the crossovers hence not limited to the Mumbai South Lok Sabha constituency.

In March 2019, amid infighting in the Mumbai Congress, Deora was appointed the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC) president. In February that year, Deora, without naming former city unit president Sanjay Nirupam, alleged that the Mumbai Congress had become “a cricket pitch of sectarian politics, with leaders pitted against one another” and even hinted at opting out of the Lok Sabha polls if the situation did not change.

But just three months later, after losing the Mumbai South Lok Sabha seat for the second consecutive time and failing to re-energise the Mumbai Congress, Deora resigned from the post, saying he was looking forward to playing a role at the national level to help stabilise the party following the Lok Sabha debacle.

By losing Deora, the Congress has lost its only available candidate who could have contested the Mumbai South Lok Sabha seat.

The party virtually has no leader now who can contest the election in his place if the Congress gets this seat after the seat-sharing negotiations. It lost the Mumbai South Lok Sabha constituency to Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena in the previous two general elections.

Irrespective of his on-ground visibility, Deora had extended financial support to the party, at least in the South Mumbai region. His connections across businesses and corporates could have ensured sustained funding for the party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. In December 2023, he was even appointed the joint treasurer of the All India Congress Committee (AICC).

“My late father and I have dedicated ourselves to nurturing soft powers, including cultivating relationships with industry on behalf of the party. I’m thankful to my friends from industry and political circles for their kind wishes. It’s encouraging to finally be recognised for one’s strengths and talent,” he had said at the time.

However, electorally, this didn’t pay off for him in the Congress. Despite shaping an image as a forward-looking, business-friendly and cosmopolitan leader, Deora could not save his Lok Sabha seat during the Narendra Modi wave in 2014. He lost again five years later despite an endorsement from Mukesh Ambani, one of the biggest industrialists in the country.

The Congress has also lost a prominent leader who is very close to the business segment of both Marwari and Gujarati communities and has a widespread acceptance in a cosmopolitan and multicultural city like Mumbai.

The Mumbai South constituency has a significant Muslim population along with a Marathi electorate. Plus it has voted for the Shiv Sena, undivided at the time, in the last two elections.

This may have swayed Deora to join the Sena led by CM Eknath Shinde instead of the BJP. But it is still not a given that Deora will get the constituency – the BJP has not yet given up its claim on Mumbai South and names such as Speaker Rahul Narwekar and minister Mangalprabhat Lodha have been floated recently.