HEMANT BABUÃ?February 25: Though it was Mumbai's twilight, the glow on the faces of Mulyam Singh Yadav and his political friend Sharad Pawar was that of a sunrise. As the two leaders went electioneering with Dalit leader Ramdas Athawle, the three constituencies of the city, North West, North Central and North East turned into a virtual laboratory to test Pawar brand poll concoction. It works, both the leaders thought at the end of almost four hours of sweating and smiling in these suburbs of Mumbai.For the people of these industrial-cum-residential suburbs, it was an impressive roadshow of the newly forged alliance of the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Republican Party of India about which they had read in newspapers or understood through the slogans painted on the dark walls of industrial chawls. People consuming tea or beer in seedy joints of Sewri turned their heads to have a look at the modest cavalcade that passed at less than normal speed and halted at a distance for janasampark.Dalits andMuslims aligning with Congress in the city was the worst nightmare for the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena coalition. And now when it is a reality the Sena-BJP's bigwigs have become vulnerable in the battle of ballots.For Example, the high-profile BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan who is contesting from Mumbai North-East constituency against Gurudas Kamat of Congress. The main factor that helped Mahajan to win in the last elections from here was the division of votes between the Congress and the RPI. But this time around nothing positive seems to be coming the Mahajan way. A former BJP MP from Nagpur, Banwarilal Purohit, has been camping here to do everything possible to defeat Mahajan. The rivalry between Mahjan and Purohit is not too old but had acquired alarming proportion when both the leaders traded charges in public over the Bhadravati Power Project which was granted clearance during the 13-day BJP rule at the Centre. ``I am at the disposal of Guru (Gurudas Kamat),'' said Purohit after addressinga public meeting for him.In all the engagements of Mulayam in Mumbai, one known face always accompanies him - Raj Babbar. He may not be a top-ranking star in Bollywood anymore but he continues to be the star attraction for the SP. In public meetings many eyes are fixed on him even when Mulayam hammers the BJP.``It will not be Kalyan Singh government in UP,'' Mulayam assured the crowd. ``Now we will pull the BJP government down on the floor of the UP assembly,'' he said and Pawar agreed. ``The Congress too would prefer to pull down Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra through the battle of ballot rather than defections,'' he said.The rest of the speeches of the two leaders were the same old rhetoric that the people had heard hundred times over. They clapped and cheered when they were expected to and they dispersed minutes after the meetings were over and the leaders had gone.Nevertheless, the RPI-Congress-SP alliance has livened up the contests in three constituencies of Mumbai which promisesa tough time for the ruling coalition. In North West, Tushar Gandhi, an SP candidate, is contesting against Madhukar Sarpotdar of Shiv Sena. However, the candidature of the former super cop A.A. Khan may turn out to be a boon for Sarpotdar who would want to divide secular votes between the grand-son of Mahatma Gandhi and the gun-wielding cop of yesteryear.But it would be bad news for Sarpotdar if Khan had overestimated his popularity even among Muslims in the seat. But in elections it is not easy to transfer the votes of one party in favour of another, the BJP poll managers argue shielding their nervousness. ``We have been asking Pramodji to travel and campaign for the BJP through out the country being rest assured about his own constituency,'' said senior city BJP leader. But Mahajan, sensing the threat in the air, has so far refused to budge.
