Mumbai: The Mumbai South constituency is constantly intently watched and hotly contested. From its demographic mix to its candidates, this seat has stuck the eye of parties and voters alike.
In the 90s, there was very little to split the winner from the runner-up in this constituency. In 1996, BJP’s Jayawantiben Mehta defeated Congress’ Murli Deora via 23,000 votes; two years later, Deora got the higher of Mehta by using 21,000 votes. It’s three days to move for polling. The Gujarati Jains, predominantly engaged in commercial enterprise, commonly decide on the BJP. But this time, the overdue Murli Deora’s son, Milind, is the Congress candidate. He prefers his father, who had networked his way into the business network, Milind Deora, to woo their extended time.
In 2014, Deora suffered a surprise defeat towards Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant, who rode the Modi wave.
This time, Deora, appointed the state Congress chief, is taking no probabilities and reaching out to the enterprise network and diamond investors. And in a rare public endorsement, pinnacle industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Uday Kotak have publicly put their weight behind Deora. Deora has taken the line that Shiv Sena is just not geared up to handle issues faced by the enterprise and trader community, including reforming GST.
For instance, diamond service provider Bharat Shah had started in early April that because Deora was misplaced in 2014, the trading community ‘lost a voice’ inside the Parliament. The Shiv Sena, aware of Deora’s attain, devised its own plan. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal met enterprise associations, including the Hindustan Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with other institutions and promised to inspect their problems. Sawant, too, was a gift.
