Veteran feels service to people will pay off

RAM NAIK, BJP

Age : 75

Hometown : Sangli

Education : BCom and LLB (University of Bombay)

Marital status : Married with 2 daughters

Political bio : Former Union minister in the NDA cabinet. Served five terms as MP from Mumbai North

Other interests : Reading, sports

MUMBAI: Statistics are a passion for Ram Naik. Seated in his Goregaon war room, the BJP leader is ready to reel off facts and figures to substantiate his claim that this time around he will return to the Lok Sabha from Mumbai North with a ���thumping majority������ .

Naik lost the 2004 Lok Sabha election by a margin of over 48,000 votes. His downfall was Vasai, where he lagged behind the Congress���s Govinda by 46,000 votes. ���Fortunately, Vasai is no longer a part of Mumbai North,������ says Naik. Thank You, Delimitation-ji . The 114-kilometre-long constituency has been trimmed to a lean-and-mean 16 kilometres.

G ov i n d a ���s vanishing tricks have helped Naik regain the voters��� attention. While the actor was neither here nor there for five years, Naik went about doing his job in Mumbai North, bringing out his annual report card. ���My work of the last five years will help me win this election,������ says Naik, who is contesting for the sixth term as MP. He made his debut in the Lok Sabha in 1989.

At 75, Naik is pitted against Sanjay Nirupam of the Congress and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena���s Shirish Parkar, who are younger than him by two decades. Does the BJP veteran feel jaded and out of place? ���No, I think the fight is between youth and service,������ Naik declares.

Railways, housing and environment are the ���burning problems��� ��� of Mumbai North, Naik opines. ���The UPA government has done precious little for suburban railway commuters . The 29 new rakes introduced last year have turned out to be defective,������ says the former Union railway minister, adding, ���Housing and CRZ are the other key issues.������

The BJP���s traditional Gujarati votebank will stand the party in good stead, says Yogesh Sagar, BJP corporator and Naik���s chief election manager. ���Plus, Marathis and UP-ites will be with us,������ Sagar claims. Will the MNS not eat into Naik���s Marathi votebank? ���No way. Marathis would not like to waste their vote,������ says Naik. ���Of the 38 corporators in Mumbai North, 20 belong to the Sena-BJP . The city���s mayor and deputy mayor are also from the area,������ points out BJP functionary Atul Bhatkhalkar.

While Naik meets voters in pada yatras and door-to-door meetings, his ���parivartan rath��� trundles across the constituency , trying to evoke hazy memories of the 1990s, when Naik ruled Mumbai North with an iron hand.