Manoj Kotak begins his fight for L S polls with his first campaign

BJP North East candidate three-time corporator Manoj Kotak had a packed first day of campaigning since early morning on Thursday. He began with "big brother" and sitting Member of Parliament Kirit Somaiya in tow, interacting with morning joggers and walkers in Mulund parks and with an RSS prayer meeting too. Later in the day, Kotak caught up with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and RPI leader Ramdas Athavale.

It was Somaiya's office that sent of Kotak's election campaign schedule the earlier night with Kotak starting early morning at 7 am from Sardar Pratap Singh Udyan at Veena Nagar in Mulund west calling it 'Garden Jansampark' from there to Mother Teresa Garden meeting joggers and morning walkers. At Mother Teresa Garden, Kotak and Somaiya participated in an RSS prayer and interacted with residents and supporters.

"I have been an old hand in Mulund and know the pulse of the people and problems here," Kotak said. Local residents and supporters at the garden said he was a sure win. Mulund has been a BJP-RSS stronghold and we have these morning prayers regularly and may it be Kirit or Kotak, the party's win is definite," local resident Ashwin Jain said. Kotak spoke with a number of citizens asking them about their well-being.

After meeting political biggies, Kotak returned to the constituency at Ramabai Nagar Ghatkopar where he took blessings of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar's at his bust and mingled with supporters who put him a blue tilak to welcome him.

Kotak who will be filing his nomination papers on Monday will be visiting Siddhivinayak Temple on Friday to seek blessings, along with temple chairman and Sena leader Aadesh Bandekar.

There are six assembly segments in this Lok Sabha constituency Mulund, Vikhroli, Bhandup West, Ghatkopar West, Ghatkopar East, and Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar. While Somaiya had won this Lok Sabha seat in 1999 and 2014, this time Kotak has been fielded by the party after the Shiv Sena objected to Somaiya's candidature. Out of the six Assembly constituencies, three segments are currently held by the BJP, while the Sena and the Samajwadi Party hold two seats and one seat, respectively.

The BJP has renominated its MPs from Mumbai North and Mumbai North Central seats but replaced Somaiya, making him the only sitting MP from Mumbai to be dropped. The Sena would contest from Mumbai South, Mumbai South Central and Mumbai North West.