During the runup to the 2004 Assembly elections, a mere rumour of Arun ‘Daddy’ Gawli arriving was enough to send all the residents of the Byculla neighbourhood scurrying out of their homes to catch a glimpse of the gangster-turned-politician. While the public presence may not have been as overwhelming, their loyalty to the incarcerated politician was obvious when Daddy’s daughter Geeta and wife Asha walked down the same neighbourhood, kickstarting their Akhil Bharatiya Sena’s campaign, on Thursday.

Dressed in a white salwar kameez, Geeta wore a look of cool confidence as she walked into the buildings in Sankli Street in Byculla, many of them bearing ‘thank you Daddy’ notes in Marathi and Urdu — a tribute to Gawli who had used much of his MLA funds to repair the buildings.

“Vote for the kite and not the aeroplane. Help us win as you are the only ones who can,” was Geeta’s standard message with folded hands to every resident who opened the door. A quick smile later, she would move to the next flat, the next floor and eventually the next building.

“Door-to-door campaigning has been our style since Daddy’s time. We do not send our karyakartas nor do we beg votes on the basis of party symbols. We ask people to vote for us on the basis of the work that Daddy has done in the area,” said Geeta.

And as she walked through the bylanes with her mother Asha, many of the residents walked down the memory lane, reminiscing about the time when Gawli himself would visit them.

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