Mumbai: Murji Patel, candidate of the BJP-Shinde alliance, says 60% of the 1 lakh Marathi speaking voters from the constituency will stand by him as the people in Mumbai do not believe in caste or linguistic politics. He said that the work done by him and his wife Kesarben as corporators from the area for the last 25 years will win him the election.
Excerpts from an interview
Q Your candidature was officially announced just minutes before filing nomination. Was it because the Shinde camp wanted Rutuja Latke to be an alliance candidate?
A I do not know about it, what I know is that Rutuja had met chief minister Eknath Shinde couple of times. I do not think the delay was because of it.
Q. It is true that you wanted to contest as an independent if BJP denied you the ticket?
A There is no point in talking about all these things. Now I am the candidate of the Mahayuti comprising BJP, Balasaheb’s Shiv Sean and Republican Party of India.
Q Your opponent Rujuta Latke will enjoy the benefit of sympathy wave, especially after the drama over her resignation
A Voters in Andheri will go by the development they want. They know who stood for them during Covid-19, who helps them for school/college admissions and for water supply. Andheri faces a lot of traffic congestion. We have plans to free them by providing houses to the slumdwellers elsewhere in Andheri.
Q The constituency is dominated by Marathi voters… How are you going to claim victory against a Marathi candidate?
A The wards from where my wife and I were elected corporators have no Gujarati speaking voters at all. The wards are dominated by Marathi speaking voters. Ramesh Latke (deceased Sena MLA) had got 35,000 votes from the traditional BJP vote bank because two parties fought as an alliance in 2019. BJP’s traditional voters voted for Sena candidate because they knew the CM had to be from the BJP. This time too, 60% of 1 lakh Marathi speaking voters will stand by me. I will win by at least 35,000 votes.
Q Marathi pride is likely to be an important issue in this election
A I have been helping people in this area for the last 25 years regardless of their caste, creed, religion, language or party affiliation. There are 55,000 north Indians, 40,000 Gujarati voters and a sizable chunk of Muslims and Christians. All of them will vote for me because of my work.
