And at the heart of all issues in the constituency of about 18 lakh voters, lies the issue of slum rehabilitation of about 85,000 families living on 276 acres of airport land, who have been resisting resettlement to areas such as Mankhurd and Dahisar and constitute anywhere between 10 to 15 per cent votes.

On being questioned about their strategies to tackle the issue of rehabilitation from airport land, both parties say that they would ensure that project affected people (PAP) are not resettled on the outskirts and instead are shifted to nearby areas, which will not affect their livelihoods.

“We are not against airport expansion, but not at the cost of dislocating more than 80,000 families. There is about 200 acres of government land near Sahar and a small portion of that land can be used to rehabilitate them,” said Mahesh Jethmalani. Similarly the Congress says that in the first phase of rehabilitation, which will happen by November, the families would be given 300 square feet accommodation and townships, with even temples and mosques being built for them.

“When the Airports Authority of India (AAI) was shifting them outside Dahisar, it was we who stood by them,” said Nasim Khan, Congress’s MLA from Kurla and Minister of State for Home.

BJP’s leader and Mahesh Jethmalani’s campaign manager, Parag Alvani, however said that this election, the BJP’s chances of a swing are very strong as it is being felt at the ground level. Jethmalani himself questioned Priya Dutt’s work in the area. “What has Priya Dutt done for the constituency?” he quipped. “The percentage of slums in the constituency has increased from 50 to 73 per cent since the last few decades before ‘99 during Congress’ reign,” he added.

Krishna Hegde, Priya Dutt’s campaign manager and spokesperson, dismissed Jethmalani’s allegations as baseless. “She has over 20 years of track record in social service whereas Mahesh Jethmalani has no track record of it whatsoever. While the slum rehab was started when the BJP-Sena government was in power, even the problem of water shortage in the slum areas began when the BJP-Sena was heading the municipality,” said Hegde.

And while the BJP says that the support shown from the ground level has been phenomenal, the Congress arrogantly says that there are no chances of BJP winning the seat. “They’re not a threat at all. And we’re not working towards winning but increasing the margin of votes,” said Naseem Khan.