Her Lok Sabha debut in 1989 was as sensational as Sachin Tendulkar's foray into international cricket that year with both taking on formidable opponents and now, though the master batsman has bid adieu to the game, BJP's Sumitra Mahajan is eyeing a record eighth consecutive term from this constituency.
Fondly known as 'Tai', 70-year-old Mahajan had defeated Congress veteran and former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Prakash Chand Sethi in 1989. In the same year, Tendulkar played his first Test series against Pakistan, which boasted of a bowling attack consisting of the likes of Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Abdul Qadir.
Mahajan said she never thought that her innings will be so long.
"Before defeating Sethiji, I was not even thinking about contesting Lok Sabha elections. I had lost assembly elections in 1985 by a thin margin. And when the party decided to field me in the parliamentary election, I was really surprised," Mahajan told PTI.
She said her political journey so far was like the flow of a river.
"It has been 25 years and I am surprised as I am not a political person by nature. All these years have been like the flow of a river. People of Indore have bestowed a lot of love on me and I have been benefited by the organisational strength of BJP in MP," said the former Union minister.
Indore will go to polls on April 24 with Mahajan facing challenge from Congress candidate Satyanarayan Patel and Aam Aadmi Party's Anil Trivedi, among others. In 2009, Mahajan defeated Patel by 11,480 votes, but this time, she is eyeing a bigger margin.