MLA from UP makes Sanjay Nirupam sweat from Mumbai North-West

Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, April 24

Sanjay Nirupam, former chief of the Mumbai unit of the Congress, who is challenging veteran Shiv Sena leader Gajanan Kirtikar from the Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat, is facing an unlikely fly-in-the-ointment — Subhash Pasi, a two-time Samajwadi Party MLA from Saidpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Pasi (57) who shuttles between Jogeshwari in Mumbai and his constituency in UP says he is banking on the SP-BSP tie-up in North India playing out in Mumbai as well. “The SP and BSP have tied up in
Maharashtra as well and I will benefit from it,” Pasi said while campaigning in the Muslim-dominated neighbourhood of Jogeshwari.

Of the 17 lakh voters in Mumbai North-West, North Indians and Muslims total 7 lakh and they are being wooed aggressively by Pasi as well as the Congress candidate.

Nirupam, who resides at Andheri in the same constituency, claims to have started his political career here even while he was a journalist.

A vocal opponent of the Shiv Sena and the BJP in Maharashtra, Nirupam used his clout with the Congress party leadership to switch from the Mumbai North constituency from where he was elected in 2009 to Mumbai North-West.

BJP MP Gopal Shetty, who defeated Nirupam in 2014, was said to be going strong in Mumbai North and Nirupam did not fancy a chance to win here.

If the Shiv Sainik-turned-Congressman was banking on the North Indian-Muslim combination to help him sail to victory, Pasi has been giving him a reality check.

Nirupam is out in the mornings and late afternoons traversing the mohallas as well as the high-rises of his constituency to reach out to voters. “I have a good equation with everyone,” Nirupam tells
reporters. The Congress machinery is reaching out to North Indians, Muslims, Dalits, South Indians and Christians in order to build a coalition against sitting Shiv Sena MP Gajanan Kirtikar.

There are around four lakh Marathi voters who are expected to strongly back Kirtikar, while the BJP is working on the 2.5 lakh Gujarati and Rajasthani voters as part of its alliance with the Shiv Sena.

Till Pasi’s entry into the fray, Kirtikar was part of efforts to reach out to the North Indian voters in the constituency. Sources from the constituency say, Kirtikar has slacked off in wooing the migrants ever
since Pasi’s candidature was announced.

Nirupam, however, tells voters that Pasi has been fielded by the BJP and Shiv Sena to cut into his votes. “This is an attempt to sabotage the chances of the Congress party,” says Nirupam.