The Hindu Business Line : Veteran done in by <I>Virar ka chokra </I>

IN a major setback to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), one of its senior party members and Union Petroleum Minister, Mr Ram Naik, lost to Congress (I) candidate and Bollywood star Govinda in the Mumbai North Lok Sabha constituency.

Mr Naik, a five-time winner from this constituency, was defeated by a margin of 48,271 votes.

The Minister's loss is due to several reasons, but the most important being he could not capture the vote of the North Indian community in the area. The BJP's ally in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena, has been aggressively targeting the "North Indian bhaiya" for migrating to Mumbai and taking away jobs. Mumbai North also has a significant Muslim population. As the BJP-Sena combine's candidate, Mr Naik had few explanations for these communities during his campaign trail.

Mr Naik has also been embroiled in a couple of controversies in recent times. The Petrol Pump scam, which involved the allotment of pumps to Sangh Parivar members, put a blot on his name. His "anti-disinvestment" stand gave him an image of being an obstructer of economic reforms. Mr Naik is well known for opposing the strategic sale of Hindustan Petroleum Company and Bharat Petroleum Company, instead opting to go the IPO way. Although this may not have directly affected the average voter, Mr Naik attracted enough negative publicity to tarnish his name.

During the election campaign, the Mumbai North constituency was a closely watched fight. Mumbai North has been a "safe" seat for the BJP. This election, however, the Congress (I) decided to put up a "powerful candidate." Popular film actor Govinda was selected to oppose Mr Naik. Govinda's popularity lay not just in him being an actor but that he grew up in the area. Known as the Virar ka chokra, Govinda never hesitates to say he is one of them.

But in spite of Govinda's mass appeal, Mr Naik was no pushover. He won five successive elections from this constituency, each time seeing an increase in the percentage of vote. Furthermore, in the previous election he won with the highest majority in Maharashtra.

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