Maharashtra polls: BJP's Kalidas Kolambkar to contest from Wadala constituency for 9th time

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 30 (ANI): Kalidas Kolambkar, an eight-time Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (MLA), offered advice to fellow legislators, saying, "If you do politics wholeheartedly and serve the public, it can go up to the ninth term."
The BJP has fielded Kolambkar from the Wadala seat in Mumbai for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections.
Kolambkar, who switched from Shiv Sena to Congress and then to BJP, has not lost a single election since 1990.
Speaking with ANI, Kolambkar said, "If you do politics wholeheartedly and serve the public, it can go up to the ninth term. In my area, history shows that no legislator gets re-elected for a second time. But I've been MLA here since then. My name will go into the Guinness Book of World Records."
He added, "Work and serve the public. If you ask people around here who will become the legislator, they will say 'Kalidas.' People ask me what spell I've cast on the public--what should I tell them?"
"My political guru was Balasaheb Thackeray," he said. "I worked with the party when Balasaheb was there. My parents gave me birth, but it was Balasaheb who gave me birth in politics. That's a fact."
Commenting on the Shiv Sena's split into two factions, he said, "We worked day and night to expand the party. I will never forget Balasaheb. They (the current leaders) failed to handle the party. It was a mistake."
The Maharashtra Assembly elections are scheduled for November 20, with the counting of votes for all 288 constituencies set to take place on November 23.
The opposition alliance MVA, comprising of Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), aims to regain power in the state against the Mahayuti alliance, which includes Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Ajit Pawar-led NCP. (ANI)