Mumbai: The sobriquet ‘giant killer’ is commonly used in Indian politics about election results. Anyone defeating a tall leader called a ‘giant killer’.
Charismatic George Fernandes got this moniker for the first time in the country’s electoral history. The trade unionist and socialist, who later became the NDA convenor and defence minister, was pitted against the quintessential Congress leader S K Patil from the prestigious Bombay South seat in the 1967 Lok Sabha polls.
George, as the orator-par-excellence was fondly called, humbled the three-time MP and former railway minister, known as the ‘Uncrowned king of Bombay’. Fernandes thus became ‘George, the giant killer’.
Now the seat is Mumbai South. The voters include the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor. Added to the demography are a strong middle class and upper middle class.
This time, the contest here involves two-time sitting MP and former Union minister Arvind Sawant, a member of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), and Bycylla MLA Yamini Jadhav, fielded by the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
The six Vidhan Sabha segments in the constituency are Worli, Shivadi, Byculla, Malabar Hill, Mumbadevi and Colaba.
Jadhav’s husband Yashwant Jadhav is active in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The Jadhav couple was facing trouble from the central probe agencies, but the two changed sides subsequently.
Notably, Thackeray’s son and former minister Aaditya Thackeray is an MLA from Worli.
In 2014 and 2019, Sawant defeated Congress candidate Milind Deora, who is now in the Shinde camp and a Rajya Sabha member. Deora’s father, Murli Deora, too, had represented the seat.
Strong fight
“It is a prestigious seat for both factions of Shiv Sena, and both sides are giving a strong fight. Shinde has the backing of the BJP, which represented the seat twice. Thackeray has the backing of Congress. Murli Deora represented the seat in 1984, 1989, 1991 and 1998,” said political analyst Ajit Joshi, adding that it is not only a “symbolic fight” between Shinde and Thackeray but also between the two alliances — Maha Yuti (NDA) and Maha Vikas Aghadi (I.N.D.I.A).
Before the Shiv Sena split, Sawant enjoyed good personal relations with the Jadhav couple besides being party colleagues who once worked under the late Balasaheb Thackeray.
Issues like taking credit for infrastructures like the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, Coastal Road, and redevelopment projects dominate the campaign.
“Mumbai South seat is like a mini-India and people from all communities, castes and income brackets stay here,” points out Prakash Akolkar, a journalist, writer and political commentator.
What happens in Mumbai South would have a bearing in the forthcoming Vidhan Sabha polls.