Earlier too people spoke of Cong decline, it will never happen: Shinde

On the campaign trail, the former home minister, now 77, speaks to Business Standard on the future of his party, his political opponents and the drinking water shortage in Solapur city

In 2014, the Congress was routed in Maharashtra, winning only two seats of the 27 it contested. Sushilkumar Shinde, a veteran Congress leader who fought from Solapur, did not make it to the Lok Sabha. On the campaign trail, the former home minister, now 77, speaks to Abhishek Waghmare on the future of his party, his political opponents and the drinking water shortage in Solapur city. Edited excerpts:

The Congress always professed to be a harbinger of progressive politics in Maharashtra. Despite that, it won only two seats last time against the BJP’s rhetoric of the Gujarat model of development. Is