When Ram Pyare Ram first became a councillor, Ajoy Mukherjee was the chief minister of Bengal and Sourav Ganguly was not yet born.

The 64-year-old Congress leader is still a councillor in the port area — first from ward 84 (later realigned to 80) and then ward 79 — in his eighth consecutive term since 1967 and he is confident of pulling it off a ninth time.

“The people of my area have faith in me. They trust me,” smiles Ram, who has also been representing Kabitirtha in the Assembly for six terms.

Ram, Ramda to his voters, does not want his winning streak to be compared with the Left Front’s record 34-year stint at Writers’ Buildings.

“Unlike the Left, I have always stood by the poor and downtrodden. The working class is my support base,” says Ram, wearing his trademark white kurta-pyjama.

The Left would cite the same reason for its long stint in power, till Mamata Banerjee stole its line.

Ram, whose family came here from Bihar, has always pinned hopes on the migrant workers in his constituency — the bulk of the workforce in the area comprises people from Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa.

For these residents of the slums of Bhukailash Road, Babubazar and Kabikhet, Ram is a Robin Hood.

“We have heard that he is at times harsh on rich people and collects money from them but he does that only to help poor people like us,” says a middle-aged resident of a slum on Bhukailash Road.

Ram has many detractors, who accuse him of manipulating the system and terrorising people for votes and notes.

In 2007, he was accused of shielding the killers of a youth who had protested the alleged forcible collection of subscriptions for Kali puja by a local club. Ram was the president of the club.

Earlier, the veteran politician was mired in a controversy over turning a school building into a party office. He and his aides have also been accused of grabbing a part of the Bhukailash Rajbari in Kidderpore.

“He protects criminals and they in turn help him win votes,” said an elderly resident of Bhukailash Road. “Ram wants his entire family to enjoy the fruits of power. His wife Hema Ram is contesting from ward 80.”

But nothing has stopped his winning streak.

Ram’s challengers now are Trinamul’s Babloo Karim, BJP’s Pradip Singh and Left Front’s Merajus Tanvir.

“The failure of the alliance between the Congress and Trinamul will not affect my chances. There will be no split in non-Left votes as people here vote for me, not for any party,” says Ram.

“The alliance, in fact, could have helped Trinamul in Garden Reach where the Congress has a stable base,” he adds.

In the last Lok Sabha polls, Mamata had visited Ram’s house before starting her campaign in the port area. “Mamata respects me a lot and I know her since she joined politics.”

Any plan to retire? “Jab tak saans hai tab tak raajneeti hai (I will be in politics till I am alive),” smiles the most confident Congressman in town.