Malik, apart from those residing in his constituency, has also contacted 67 defence personnel from his constituency who are posted in Jammu and Kashmir.
Every single vote counts, says Maharashtra labour minister Nawab Malik, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate from Anushakti Nagar segment here, and true to his word, he is making every effort to contact as many as voters possible ahead of October 13.
Malik, apart from those residing in his constituency, has also contacted 67 defence personnel from his constituency who are posted in Jammu and Kashmir, appealing to them to cast their postal ballots in his favour. Anushakti Nagar has a sizeable population of defence personnel as also officials from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) who are on deputation outside the city.
Malik is reaching out to voters through telegrams, courier and also by telephone. "I have contacted defence personnel posted in the border areas of Leh and Ladakh who are my voters, Malik said.
The minister, the sitting MLA from Nehru Nagar who has shifted to the newly carved Anushakti Nagar, an eastern suburb, post delimitation, is locking horns with Shiv Sena- BJP alliance candidate Tukaram Kate, a corporator with considerable clout in the area. Kate, a one-time confidante of former chief minister Narayan Rane who left the Sena to join the Congress, is no pushover and hence Malik is going the extra mile in his effort
to win the seat. Malik has got a boost with Rane, now his cabinet colleague, campaigning for him.
The minister is going around making several promises, the highlight being the one to enable travel from the eastern suburb to South Mumbai by road within ten minutes.
Terming Anushakti Nagar as the Andaman and Nicobar of Mumbai, Malik says fast travel is possible if hillocks in the area are tunnelled to connect the city. "I call it Andaman and Nicobar because it is a picturesque area but also neglected, he said.
"I have studied in detail the hillock at Panjrapole which can be tunnelled like one on Khandala (a hill station). If this is done, it will considerably reduce the traveling time of motorists to South Mumbai," Malik said. "It should then take just 10-minutes to reach south Mumbai from Anushakti Nagar," he said.
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