Journalism of Courage
What helped you win from the seat for the third time?
A month before the poll, I went to Mankhurd and Shivaji Nagar and told the people that I have worked in your interest for past 10 years. I don’t need politics to survive and asked them if they want someone else to contest instead of me. But they came ahead to support me, and it is due to this that I contested election and won.
How do you compare the alliance between BJP-Sena and Congress-NCP?
Senior party leaders sitting in Delhi consider Maharashtra-based leaders postman… Whatever leaders decide in Mumbai are often overturned by the people sitting in Delhi, and these so-called leaders come back empty-handed. This is the main reason why the importance of Congress is reducing day-by-day. There are better leaders than Rahul Gandhi in Maharashtra who are in politics since the time he wasn’t even born.
Do you think Congress-NCP would have won more seats if they had to project Sharad Pawar as the CM face?
There is no bigger leader than Sharad Pawar. …To keep secularism alive, I advise them that INC and NCP should combine (forces) and make Pawar their leader. Then whoever he decides should be projected as CM, only then INC’s seats will increase in Maharashtra.
