Land, traffic, sustainability: It's a tightrope walk for Narwekar

COLABA | Rahul Narwekar faces a challenge of working out an acceptable premium for land conversion, besides managing traffic and connectivity

- Dhairya Gajara

Colaba, the heart of south Mumbai with some of the most upscale localities, came under the stewardship of the BJP for the first time in 2014. The party is aiming for a hat-trick in the constituency in the upcoming assembly polls and laid trust in Rahul Narwekar. Also the youngest Speaker of the legislative assembly, he has a huge challenge of working out an acceptable premium for land conversion in the constituency.

Narwekar started his political career as the spokesperson of the Shiv Sena's youth wing but ended his 15-year-long stint after being denied a chance to contest for the Lok Sabha (LS) elections. After an unsuccessful attempt in 2014 from the Maval constituency on the NCP's ticket, Narwekar was elected to the legislative council as an appointed member. After multiple failures, he joined the BJP in 2019 and got elected as an MLA from Colaba by defeating Congress' two Ashok Bhai Jagtap by garnering 57,420 votes.

Narwekar's father Suresh Narwekar was a municipal councillor, whereas his brother Makarand Narwekar has also been a two-term municipal councillor from Colaba's ward number 227. His sister-in-law Harshita is a municipal councillor from Cuffe Parade, whereas his father-in-law Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar is a senior leader of the NCP (Ajit Pawar).