A by-election looms in the Mt Albert electorate following the appointment of former Prime Minister Helen Clark as head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
That means another shot at Parliament for National Party’s Ravi Musuku who lost to Ms Clark at the last General Election in November.
Musuku told Sandesh that there definitely would be a by-election in Mt Albert – a seat occupied by Ms Clark for 18 years.
And India-born Musuku, who lost to Ms Clark by 2000 party votes, and 9000 electoral votes, said he was ready to rise to the challenge.
Musuku, of Hillsborough, said he was confident of a National victory in a by-election as Labour had lost the support of the people.
“It’s not a question of Labour losing Indian support, but Labour has lost the support of every community.”
It is not known who Labour's candidate will be at this stage, but the rumour mills have circulated the name of Phil Twyford.
Ms Clark’s UNDP post, to be taken up in August, is the third most senior UN role and would involve overseeing a $8.9 billion budget, which is mostly spent on programmes in Africa.
It is the highest international post held by a New Zealander since Mike Moore was Director-General of the World Trade Organisation.
Musuku was born and raised in India. He graduated as a mechanical engineer and held management positions in the industry in India.
He moved to New Zealand with his family in 1998. He attained a Bachelor of Theology from the University of Auckland in 2001. He’s been a pastor since then at Hillsborough Baptist Church.
Musuku can speak four different Indian languages and has two weekly Indian radio shows which have a listenership of more than 40000 Indian people in Auckland and surrounding areas.