Congress-VBA Alliance Shakes BMC Polls: Can Rahul Gandhi's Move Stop Fadnavis-Shinde?

• Congress and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) formed an alliance for the Mumbai BMC elections, aiming to consolidate Dalit-Bahujan votes.
• The alliance, announced at Tilak Bhavan, sees Congress contesting 165 seats and VBA 62 out of 227 total seats.
• This move, part of Rahul Gandhi's national strategy, seeks to challenge the ruling Mahayuti (BJP-Shinde Shiv Sena) by combining vote shares.
• While Congress had 16% vote share in 2017, combined with VBA's base, it could reach 20-25%, potentially creating a strong alternative to Mahayuti's 55-60%.
• Key challenges include successful vote transfer between parties and countering Mahayuti's government power and development agenda.

Why It Matters: Congress-VBA alliance aims to consolidate Dalit-Bahujan votes, challenging Mahayuti in Mumbai BMC polls.