Believe it or not, Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty's endorsement of Michael Bloomberg last month during India Day Parade has become the most-watched video clip of the 2009 mayoral election.
Bradley Tusk, Bloomberg's campaign manager, on Monday said with 53,381 hits and counting, Shetty's endorsement 'has become far and away the most-watched video of the 2009 Mayoral election".
During the celebration of the 62nd year of India's Independence, Shetty as grand marshal walked along Bloomberg and endorsed his re-election bid.
Shetty, who had arrived just two days before the parade, said she thought the mayor had really been good for the city.
'Just to see him show his solidarity to Asian community today -- come out here -- made me respect him even more. I wish him all the very best,' the diva said.
'It (the hits) speaks not only of Shilpa's great popularity, but to the fact that this election is being watched closely by the New York's Indian community,' Tusk said in a statement.
New York city, comprising five boroughs, has an estimated population of over 200,000 Indian Americans. But a small percentage of them are voters.
Rajive Gowda, one of the three city council candidates for this year's primary that is slated tomorrow, and who is running from the 49th District in Staten Island, says he does not have any idea of the total number of Indian-American voters in New York.
"But in my constituency, Indian-American votes are slightly above 1,000," he said. Stanley Kalathara, who is running a high-profile campaign in District 25 in Queens, puts the number of Indian-American voters in his district as 1,000.
Besides these two, the third Indian-American candidate in the fray is Swaranjit Singh, who is running from District 23 in Queens. All three are Democrats.
The community has a stake in tomorrow's primary.
Tusk said the campaign is expecting a record turnout of Indian-American voters for a Mayoral election this November, and believe the vast majority of those voters will cast their ballot for Bloomberg.
'Whether we're talking about immigration reform, historic drops in crime or tremendous improvements to public education, New Yorkers across our city are getting behind the Mayor's record of achievement and so are a few others like the great Shilpa Shetty from beyond our City's borders.'
Shetty had earlier said that she thought New York City could benefit from Bloomberg's re-election.
Andre Doba, a spokesperson for the campaign, said according to his estimate there are 50,000-60,000 Indian-Americans voters in NYC.
