Priya, Poonam make Mumbai North Central a battle of daughters

Mumbai: Mumbai North Central is considered as one of the safest seats for Congress in the coming Lok Sabha elections, as sitting MP Priya Dutt had won with a margin of 1.77 lakh votes in 2009. It comprises the assembly segments of Vile Parle, Kalina, Kurla, Chandivali, Vandre East and Vandre West. Kurla and Chandivali were earlier part of the Mumbai North East.[caption id=“attachment_1437967” align=“alignnone” width=“300”]  Priya Dutt (L) and Poonam Mahajan. AFP[/caption] Congress holds four of these Assembly seats; Kurla has an NCP MLA, while Vandre East has a Shiv Sena MLA. BJP took some time to decide the candidate who would take on Priya, daughter of the late Congress leader Sunil Dutt. Names of actor Nana Patekar and former IPS officer Satyapal Singh were doing rounds, but finally the party chose Poonam Mahajan, daughter of the late BJP leader, Pramod Mahajan. The battle, thus, would be mainly between daughters of two high-profile political leaders who are no more. Poonam said she would be able to cash in on the “anti-Congress” mood in the country. While Priya says she takes the opposition seriously, but the development work of the UPA, the state government and her own work in the constituency would see her through. Vile Parle MLA Krishna Hegde pointed out that Poonam had lost the Assembly election in 2009 by 25,000 votes from Mumbai North East, a part of her father’s constituency. “This is Priya Dutt’s stronghold. Priya has bettered her winning tally in the last election,” he said. Hegde also pointed out that AAP had not put up any candidate here so far (which could help Congress). With nearly 19 lakh voters, the constituency has a mixed population: Maharashtrian and Gujarati in Vile Parle, Christians in Kalina, cosmopolitan Vandre West which is home to several Bollywood personalities, and over four lakh Muslims in Chandivali, Kurla and Vandre East. Rehabilitation of nearly one lakh families affected by the airport redevelopment in the main issue. About 90 acres of land is required for airport modernisation, much of which is currently occupied by slums. About 20,000 houses have been constructed in Kurla for the project-affected, but rehabilitation process is slow. This apart, given the growing urbanisation and strain on the infrastructure, basic civic amenities too is an issue. Congress is hopeful that the decision to regularise illegal slums built till 2000 would help it. Though Mahajan maintains that Congress did nothing to improve the living standards of the poor, political observers feel her campaign won’t be able to neutralise the goodwill the Dutt family enjoys among masses, thanks to the late Sunil Dutt’s work. Priya’s backers also point out that she is involved in medical care for the poor and has taken various social initiatives in the constituency. While BJP maintains that anti-incumbency wave against Congress is so high that the safest seat for Congress in Mumbai is not safe any longer. PTI