Yamini Jadhav, the South Mumbai candidate of Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, has taken to the streets to campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. In the past few polls, Jadhav was often found seeking votes for Arvind Sawant, who was the Shiv Sena candidate from the South Mumbai constituency. However, after the split in the party, Shinde has entrusted Jadhav with the responsibility of defeating Sawant.
Convincing alliance partners to give a chance to Jadhav was not easy for the Maharashtra chief minister but the BJP, despite having two strong candidates for the seat, relented after Shinde convinced them and got the seat in exchange for the Konkan seat.
Jadhav and her husband Yashwant, who was once close to Matoshree, are now close confidantes of Shinde. Yashwant was regarded a strongman of the Shiv Sena in the BMC house. “I am confident that I will win this constituency as I have the experience of working here as a corporator and then as an MLA. After former cabinet minister and BJP leader late Jayvantiben Mehta, this the first time BJP-Shiv Sena alliance has given ticket to a woman candidate,” Yamini Jadhav said.
South Mumbai was typically a Marathi-speaking constituency but after its expansion, migrants who came to Mumbai in search of jobs as well as various businesses have settled here. This also includes a sizeable pocket of Muslims voters. “I have worked for people without thinking of a particular caste, community or religion. I know that my voters trust me and cast their vote for me so that I can represent them in the state assembly and work for them. I know that they will trust me again and support me so that I can work for them in Parliament,” she said.
Discussing her vision for the development of South Mumbai, Yamini said markets where several people come for business and in search of jobs should be provided with proper infrastructure so that business flourishes and jobs are created for local youth.
Her priority list has two key issues: One, make more parking spaces in South Mumbai due so that people don’t have to park their vehicles on the roads which leads to traffic jams and second is to resolve the issue of redevelopment of old and dilapidated buildings.
“Every year, we get to hear about incidents of building collapse in South Mumbai during monsoon. Till date, many people have lost their lives in such incidents. The only way to stop this is the redevelopment of such buildings under cluster development scheme. For this, we will have to continuously follow up with the state government and BMC and, if needed, seek the Centre’s help to expedite the procedure,” she said.
South Mumbai is also the medical hub as all big state-government run and civic-body run hospitals fall in this constituency such as KEM Hospital, Sir JJ Group of Hospitals, and St George. People from across the country come to these hospitals for treatment as they are affordable, but most of the facilities need an upgrade.
“With the help of the Centre, the state government will bring funds for these hospitals and make them more advanced. We will try to give free treatment to all patients under the Centre’s scheme and make it cashless for those who have no medical insurance.”
Being a breast cancer survivor, Yamini Jadhav is also aware of the issues that women face, including mothers of new-borns who have no place to feed them. Jadhav had started one such dedicated feeding centre in Mumbai Zoo and now wants to expand such centres across the country for the ease of lactating mothers.
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