MUMBAI, Dec. 20 -- Ram Kadam, Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) MLA from Ghatkopar West, has been known to indulge in high drama to court attention - he attracted attention after a long span recently, when a video of him getting a haircut while addressing a crowd went viral on social media. In the video he is heard saying that he had vowed not cut his hair till an area in his constituency got steady drinking water supply. The timing of Kadam's move was apt - the civic elections in Mumbai will be held on January 15, and BJP has warned all its city MLAs to ensure that they get maximum corporators elected from their constituencies. Kadam however said: "I have six such projects that have qualified for the Guinness World Records, and one of them has already been awarded a certificate. I am not publicity-hungry. I feel happy doing good and remaining in people's minds." Ram Kadam, 53, first drew attention to himself in 2009, ahead of the assembly elections, when he announced a Rs 25 lakh prize money for the mandal that created the tallest human pyramid to break the dahi handi, ahead of Ganeshotsav. Until then, he was a shadow figure, seen in the company of late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan (until he died in 2006). However, as soon as elections were announced, he decided to back the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). MNS fielded him against Mahajan's daughter Poonam Mahajan-Rao who was making her political debut. He managed to defeat Poonam, riding partly on Raj Thackeray's anti-North Indian sentiment and partly due to "resourceful election management" political pundits say. However, he faced suspension from the Assembly on the very first day when he and other MNS MLAs assaulted Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi for taking oath in Hindi. He was arrested in March 2013 for attacking a police officer on the premises of Vidhan Bhavan because he stopped MLA Kshitij Thakur's speeding car on the Worli-Bandra Sea Link. He was accused of assaulting three youths at his Ghatkopar office after they registered a police complaint demanding investigation into Kadam's claim of having acquired Gautam Buddha's ashes in 2014. In September 2018, he faced criticism for his remarks about helping young men elope to get married to women of their choice, at a dahi handi programme in his constituency. That, it is believed, was the beginning of his downfall - the Opposition criticised him and the party leadership sidelined him. Kadam hails from an impoverished family that lived in a chawl in Vikhroli. He sold tea in his teens, to make ends meet. He stepped into politics as Pramod Mahajan's worker in the 1990s and actively participated in his 1996 and 1998 Lok Sabha campaigns. It's when he learnt the art of networking with politicians from BJP and other parties. He decided to contest elections after Mahajan's sudden death in 2006, but when BJP gave the ticket to Poonam, Kadam turned to MNS. However, sensing the change in the winds in the state and nationally, he moved to BJP ahead of the 2014 elections. He got the ticket and was elected from the Ghatkopar West constituency; he retained his seat in the 2019 and 2024 elections. As an MLA, he has been known for floating populist schemes - taking the elderly on pilgrimages, organising rakhi events and gifting women sarees, offering chopper rides to the youth in his constituency, sending gifts to Muslim voters during Eid, etc. The sops helped him stay strong in the saddle backed by sizable margins in votes, though the numbers dwindled largely in the 2024 Assembly polls. "He is a smart marketeer, and knows how to grab eyeballs for political benefit - evidenced by the varied schemes announced by him," said a former party colleague. On the back of the recent video where he cut his hair in public view, former MNS MLA Shishir Shinde, who was Kadam's party colleague, said: "It is to his credit that he ensured water supply for hilly areas in his constituency. He must have taken the idea from former Shiv Sena's Vikhroli Parksite corporator Shantaram Chavan, who had not cut his hair or shaved his beard for eight years till he arranged water in his constituency."...