Click to play videoMumbai: He is the star people clamour to meet and get one jaadu ki jhappi from. Well, it seems Sanjay Dutt has taken his mass appeal quite seriously.
Dutt recently announced his intention to contest the 2009 elections, but citizens groups in Dutt's neighbourhood are not quite ready to let go of his mistakes.
Managing Trustee, Khar Residents' Association, Anandini Thakoor says, "He has been convicted in accordance to the Arms act. What if tomorrow the High Court decides he is a convict? What do we do then?"
Dutt's announcement has even irked some members of the Congress party who are questioning his credentials as a potential candidate.
Congress MP, Sanjay Nirupam says, "It doesn't matter who your mother or father is. It is your performance that matters."
And the reactions of Mumbaikars are mixed on whether Dutt should be allowed to contest elections.
While some say that he would do, but don't think he will be accepted as a politician because of his criminal background, other say that once he becomes a politician, it will be difficult to file any case against him. Still others think that the cases against him are the reason that he wants to enter politics in the first place — so that it becomes tough to convict him.
Sanjay Dutt's six-year sentence under the Arms Act is also a hurdle to his political ambitions, because legal experts say that unless he is acquitted in the 1993 Mumbai riots case, his application for contesting an election would be invalid.
With public opinion strongly against him, it seems the transition for Sanjay Dutt from Munnabhai MBBS to Munnabhai MP will be a difficult one.
(With inputs from Deborah Grey in Mumbai)
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