Eye on polls, parties woo North-Indians

Mumbai: With the civic polls inching closer, political parties are trying to woo north-Indian voters across the city since they comprise a sizable population in over 60 wards. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is taking keen interest and attended a gathering of the north-Indian community on Wednesday at Kandivali. Congress, on the other hand has organised a rally on January 4 for their north-Indian brethren, mostly hawkers, auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers.

The Shiv Sena, however feels that their work is sufficient to garner votes from north Indian voters. “Our sainiks in shakhas work every day unlike BJP and Congress. The community knows that their issues like drainage, water problem etc are solved at shakhas. The other parties open their offices only during polls and then go away. We do not need to conduct any special drive,” said Sena leader Vinay Shukla.    

On Wednesday, Mr Fadnavis celebrate former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birthday with the north Indian voter base in Kandivali. This is the third function the chief minister attended for the community. Earlier, he had encouraged ‘bati chokha’ festival in Goregaon. In November, the CM attended Chhath Puja.

The western suburbs from Andheri to Dahisar are dotted with north Indians. Other places that have a sizeable north Indian population are Kurla, Chandivali, Sion and Sewri. Political pandits opine that the community is important after the Marathi people.

“We are also holding a programme on January 4 to address the north Indians, especially the working class. We want to highlight plight of auto-rickshaw, taxi drivers, hawkers who are suffering due to the BJP government’s wrong policies,” said Congress Mumbai president Sanjay Nirupam.