In 2004, I contested for the Assembly elections. My background and experience led me to this decision. I represented the Samajwadi Party in the Opera House constituency against the Congress heavyweight Kishen Jadhav and Arvind Nerkar of the Shiv Sena. At the time I believed the Samajwadi party was the only party which gave a chance to the young, inexperienced candidate.
Our country had a 25 per cent youth population at the time but their representation in the political arena was an appalling state.
I mortgaged my house for loans to start the city's first nightclub 'Fire N Ice' and cabbed it to the nightclub every day for 18 months till I bought my first car, a Cielo. After sweating it out and struggling hard for five years I was finally able to release my property and buy my first Firebird, a red covertible!
I have a successful brand name and have established myself in the hospitality industry and it was in this profession that I realized that our leaders make their own decisions and there is noone to listen to our demands. We would often write to the government but never get any response.
When I encountered troubles with licenses and deadlines, I started contemplating being on the other side. A couple of meetings with the stalwarts in the industry made me realize that not many were interested in taking this step. So I volunteered.
It wasn't easy though! Everyone feared for my reputation as noone looks at politicians in a kindly light. My parents even urged me to get married since noone will be willing to marry me after I ventured into politics (I thought that was most hilarious).
My slogan for the election was "Invest in our youth and secure their future". I wanted to inspire the youth to come forward and involve themselves in policy decisions, and infuse a fresh perspective to the functioning of the state.
There was no religious propaganda for me, only civic and youth issues.
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