It’s K.M. Shariff of Shariff Furniture, Mysuru

Mysuru: This is the poll season and electioneering is at its feverish pitch. Charismatic leaders of all political parties trying to grab maximum eyeballs as also wooing voters are the flavour of this season.

Gone are the days when leaders like Indira Gandhi or Morarji Desai walked briskly up a flight of rickety wooden stairs on to a raised platform covered with a thick overhead shamiana even as the crowd cheered them on standing in the hot sun to listen to their speeches.

The whole electioneering experience has changed with political parties trying their best to make their leaders comfortable under huge pandals with all modern amenities being provided to them even as they whizz in and out of the city they are campaigning.

Now, there is only one person in Mysuru who has gained the confidence of all political parties and provides them with all the election paraphernalia. He is K.M. Shariff, a resident of Udayagiri, who owns Shariff Furniture at Agrahara Circle.

Speak to him and you come away with years of experience of the election scene as also the other programmes that take place under the shelter he provides to his customers.

Zero balance

“I started this hiring out business with zero balance almost 35 years ago and today I have gained the confidence of the leaders and party workers of all political parties. That is how when I put up the pandal for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election campaign yesterday at Maharaja’s College Grounds, I am able to use the same pandal for BSP Chief Mayawati’s rally today as they also want the same facility but, of course, with a toned down version of the pandal,” said Shariff, speaking to Star of Mysore here this morning.

He had put up the pandal covering one lakh square feet area for Modi’s rally yesterday with 250 ft X 400 ft dais which had LED screens, air coolers, VVIP chairs, sofa sets, arm and armless plastic chairs along with barricades.

The very next day is Mayawati’s political rally at the same venue and Shariff has been asked to continue with the same facility but removing the pandals on either side and also bringing down the number of chairs.

“In the last 35 years I have seen many changes and I have also moved along with the times when it comes to providing materials for campaign rallies. For instance I have put up German Tents this time which is built on German technology. However, only 40 per cent of the pandal is water-proof,” he said.

Asked how much he had charged for yesterday’s rally, Shariff said, “I have charged Rs. 19.15 lakh which will be counted as election expenditure of the political party. But as the BSP did not want the side pandals, I got it removed last night. The JD(S) and Congress also want the same pandal for their rally which is likely to happen on Apr.12. But they have still not confirmed. If by this evening I do not get the confirmation, then I will remove it and put it again if they want it.”

Payments & dues

Ask him if there are any problems he is facing regarding payments from the political parties, his litany of woes opens up. “I took up this profession from my father who had an old furniture shop. But over the years I have become whatever I am today because of this profession and I am very happy. However, coming to the payments, the political parties give advance money and for the balance money I have to run from pillar to post and it will take six months or more. Sometimes the dues are pending and when there is an occasion for a next rally, I will get the due amount and thus this cycle goes on,” he said.

The positive side of the business is, of course, the personal rapport he has gained with the top leaders of the city, State and the nation, irrespective of the political party they belong to.

Biggest customer:  JSS Mahavidyapeetha

He recalls having put up pandals, apart from Maharaja’s College Grounds, in Town Hall, JK Grounds, Scouts and Guides Grounds and apart from the political rallies that he furnishes pandals, he also puts it up for exhibitions. However, his biggest customer is the JSS Mahavidyapeetha for whom he has been pitching pandals since decades.

He has inventory worth Rs. 3 crore and his massive godown in Nazarbad stocks everything related to the political rallies and exhibitions. “I do hire mike sets, LED screens and barricades. But all other materials belong to me. I am sending these materials to the public rally of PM Modi in Mangaluru on Apr.13 and the Congress-JD(S) rally in Kolar on the same day,” he said.

Are there any risks involved? Shariff replies with a stoic face, “The biggest risk is finding workers to climb 25 to 30 feet to put up the pandal. I have a permanent workforce of 25 people. But I hire another 100 to 150 people for the extra work,” he said.

Fifty-nine-year-old Shariff, who has a son and a daughter, who is married, signs off saying, “Though this profession has given everything to me, I do not want my son to be put through the hazards of this profession as I want it to end with me.”