Mumbai: Union Minister Piyush Goyal, who is the BJP's candidate from Mumbai North, on Wednesday hit out at leaders of opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) for labelling him as an outsider, saying they are "helpless" and making ridiculous arguments.
"There can be nobody more Mumbaikar than me," Mr Goyal told PTI during a road show in response to questions on the "outsider" barb hurled at him by the opposition.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut and Congress leader Varsha Gaikwad, who dubbed Mr Goyal as an "outsider", had said voters of Mumbai North would send "Pedder Road's parcel back to Pedder Road" in the Lok Sabha elections for the parliamentary constituency on May 20.
Mr Goyal had mentioned his residential address as Malabar Hill, a locality in the vicinity of Pedder Road, an affluent neighbourhood in South Mumbai.
"That is a very ridiculous argument. Not even worth responding to. I am a born Mumbaikar. Lived in Mumbai all my life, worked in Mumbai all my life," Mr Goyal said.
"It is a very facile and stupid argument. Have you heard anyone say I am a Uttar Mumbaikar (North Mumbaikar)? "They are helpless, visionless and leaderless. and hence making such facile arguments," Mr Goyal said targeting the MVA leaders.
The senior BJP leader also accused the opposition Congress and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) of trying to divide Mumbai into different parts.
Mr Goyal is pitted against Congress candidate Bhushan Patil, who had contested the Maharashtra Assembly elections in 2009 from Borivali, an assembly segment in the Mumbai North parliamentary seat.
The Union Minister said going by the logic of the opposition, Gaikwad, a former Maharashtra Minister contesting against BJP candidate Ujjwak Nikam from Mumbai North Central, is herself an outsider to the constituency as she hails from Dharavi, which falls under the Mumbai South Central parliamentary seat.
"I don't know what happens to Rahul Gandhi, when he goes to Wayanad or Rae Bareli. He will have to find where his origins are. I don't know whether it is in Italy," Mr Goyal said.
He also pointed out that Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray too can be called an outsider as he contests from Worli assembly segment, while being a resident of Bandra.
Mr Goyal said he was born in Mumbai, studied in H R College and Government Law College and started his Chartered Accountancy practice in Lalbaug and worked as an investment banker in Nepean Sea Road.
The BJP leader said he also started a small scale unit in Dombivli in neighbouring Thane district and expanded it in Navi Mumbai.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)