Solapur (Mah): Even though controversy dogged him since he took over as Union Home Minister for making some questionable statements, Sushil Kumar Shinde looks well set to romp home to a fourth Lok Sabha term from this traditional Congress bastion where the BJP challenge appears insipid despite the perceived “Modi wave”.
Shinde, 73, not particularly known for verbal discretion—who made a recent statement on “crushing” media, the one on Saffron terror camps, the banter that people will forget “coalgate” just as the “Bofors” got erased from their memory and his provocative jibe at Jaya Bachchan reminding her that she was in Parliament and should desist from Bollywood histrionics—does not seem to carry his Delhi baggage when he lands in his home constituency in Western Maharashtra.
An avowed Congress high command loyalist, who never fought shy of playing the Dalit card for climbing up the political ladder with an ever smiling face, Shinde's meteoric rise from a courtroom peon to the highest corridors of power has been truly remarkable for his journey from Maharashtra Chief Minister to the Union Home Ministry.
This time, Shinde who has just returned to his home turf to up the ante of his campaign, is being promoted in his absence by his MLA daughter Praniti and wife Ujwala.
