Shatrughan Sinha set to quit BJP
Parliamentarian seems to be headed for Lalu’s RJD party
Patna: Rebel Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parliamentarian Shatrughan Sinha, more popular as “Shotgun”, has moved closer to saying goodbye to his party which he served for the past 27 years. He looks headed for the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), a prominent opposition party headed by jailed politician Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Sinha who represents Patna Sahib seat (from Bihar) in the Lok Sabha dropped ample hints about his quitting the BJP when he tweeted a couplet on Friday, telling he may not be with the party anymore.
“Mohabbat karne vaale kam na honge, (shayad) teri mehfil main lekin hum na honge (There won’t be scarcity of lovers, only that I, perhaps, won’t be there),” Sinha tweeted on Friday adding “I may not be with you anymore”. At the same time, he questioned the credibility and trust factor in the leadership of the Prime Minister, once again indicating he had charted out his course of action.
“Sir, the nation respects you, but the only thing the leadership lacks is credibility and trust factor. Do the people still trust what the leadership is currently doing and has promised to them? Anyway, it all seems to be too little and too late. Promises made in the past are still to be fulfilled,” he tweeted, in a subtle attack on the Prime Minister.
If his tweets are any indication, Sinha, a Bollywood actor-turned-politician is very close to bidding adieu to the party very soon. As per stories doing the rounds, Sinha may contest on RJD ticket. What is the basis of this speculation is Sinha’s frequent meetings with jailed RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi. He has also announced he would be contesting from the same Patna Sahib seat whatever may be the circumstances.
There won’t be scarcity of lovers, only that I, perhaps, won’t be there. I may not be with you anymore
“Whatever may be the circumstances, my location will be the same,” he has gone on record as saying. The RJD has announced it will be only too happy to offer a ticket to Sinha. The Patna Sahib seat in all probability is set to go in RJD’s share and that indicates he could go with the RJD.
Since winning the LS polls in 2014, Sinha has turned a rebel apparently after he was not inducted into the Prime Minister’s Cabinet. Later, he questioned the inclusion of people like “TV actress and ‘Wakil Babu’ (Mr lawyer)” in the Modi cabinet without any prior experience in oblique reference to Smriti Irani and Arun Jaitely.
Since then, he has not missed any opportunity of taking potshots at Prime Minister Modi whenever any such situation arose. He has publicly questioned the Prime Minister over his demonetisation drive, surgical strike, GST and recent air strike in Pakistan post Pulwama terror attack in Kashmir. He was also seen joining rallies organised by the opposition parties in West Bengal and Delhi.
If he quits the BJP, this will indeed be a very big setback for the party whom he served for close to three decades. Sinha made his formal entry into the BJP way back in 1992 when he contested against his Bollywood friend and Congress candidate Rajesh Khanna in the bypolls to New Delhi Lok Sabha seat in 1992 which he lost by a little over 25,000 votes.
In an interview to the media, Sinha later described it as his “biggest regret in his life” to contest the elections against his friend Khanna. Though Khanna won the elections by beating Sinha, he was so hurt over his act that he never spoke to Sinha thereafter. Sinha did try to rebuild his friendship with Khanna, but that never happened and Khanna passed away in 2012.