MUMBAI: The Congress on Tuesday termed the Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra "arrogant, corrupt and incompetent" and accused the dispensation of "leaving Mumbai in the lurch in the flood season".

The party's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala blamed the "crumbling infrastructure" of the country's financial capital for the death of 18 people and sought to know whether the state government would own responsibility for the "mess".

"Drunk with arrogance of power, an incompetent & corrupt Shiv Sena-BJP alliance leaves Mumbai to lurch in this flood season, year after year for 25 years! 18 people died in Mumbai and crumbling infra is for everyone to see! Will SS-BJP own responsibility for this mess, ever (sic)?" he wrote on Twitter.

Rain fury claimed 27 lives in Maharashtra, including 18 in a wall collapse in Mumbai, while the authorities declared a holiday in the city and adjoining regions, asking people to avoid stepping out of their houses.

The 18 deaths in the wall collapse occurred in Mumbai's northern suburb of Malad early Tuesday, in which 50 people were injured.

In Pune, six labourers were killed and three injured after a wall collapsed in Ambegaon area late Monday night. A wall collapse in Kalyan in Thane district early Tuesday killed three people, officials said.

According to officials, the rainfall in the 24-hour period before 8.30 am Tuesday was the highest since the July 26, 2005, deluge in Mumbai.

Quoting data from the Santa Cruz-based Mumbai Regional Centre of the IMD, another official said that the rainfall during the 24-hour period was 375.2 mm.