Congress nominee from Mumbai North deploys celeb power to take on BJP biggie.
Govinda's star power bungled political bigwig and five-time MP Ram Naik's claim to the Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat in 2004 -- a point which was not lost on Sanjay Nirupam, Congress' candidate from the constituency this time, as he rallied with the stars on Sunday, and Big ones at that.
Nirupam's rally in Borivili was attended by his co-contestants in the recently-concluded reality show Big Boss. The celebs included Monica Bedi, Sambhavna Seth, Zulfi Syed, Alina and Sana Wadiwala.
While the cine-stars generated a lot of interest and enthusiasm among residents, it will be interesting to see whether this ‘show’ converts into votes.
PS Tadokar, an onlooker at the rally, certainly did not believe it would. "Voters won't be fooled by this parade of Bollywood stars," he said.
However, there were also some who were impressed by the Nirupam show. On among them was Geeta Tamankar, who said Nirupam is a good human being. "We saw that after Big Boss, Nirupam helped Bedi find a suitable place to reside in Mumbai," she said.
Sambhavna was in her usual bubbly mood. She occasionally even shouted slogans supporting Nirupam's candidature. "Nirupam is like family. I have come to support him and to see him win," she said. Monica Bedi meanwhile reminded voters how Nirupam had kept the promise of finding her a house.
While Nirupam was the first contestant to be eliminated from Big Boss, he will be hoping that the solidarity extended by his co-contestants will make him the last man standing in the game of politics.
Meanwhile, to find a connect with the middle and lower-middle class voters, who account for over 70 % of the electorate, Nirupam's spin doctors have decided
to portray him as the son of a poor farmer (Garib kisan ka beta) who hit it big in Mumbai owing to his hard work and commitment.
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