Raring To Return

Congress’s Priya Dutt hopes to reclaim Mumbai North Central from BJP’s Poonam Mahajan, who is confident of retaining it.

- Priyanka Bhadani

It is posh; it is poor. With high-rises and bungalows on one end and slums on the other, the differences are stark in Mumbai North Central constituency. The two prime candidates—BJP’s Poonam Mahajan and Congress’s Priya Dutt—have a few similarities though. Both their fathers, Pramod Mahajan and Sunil Dutt, were former MPs. Also, Poonam and Priya are seeking a second chance to serve the constituency—while Poonam is the current MP, Priya won the seat in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections (before that, she represented the Mumbai North West constituency following her father’s death in 2005).

Poonam’s first floor office in Santacruz is teeming with people, many with a list of problems in their area and others with requests to join the party. A bunch of people surround her in the cabin, too. She is sweetly reassuring a woman, who is here with her young son. Poonam turns to the boy and asks, “Chocolate khaya (Did you eat the chocolate)?” Surprised, the boy replies: “I didn’t get any chocolate.” Poonam, a tad upset, asks her assistants to get chocolates for the boy. Two assistants get two bars each, and Poonam hands them to the boy and hugs him. “Happy?” she asks. He grins.