Patna: Shatrughan Sinha on Saturday responded to the claims that Patna Sahib– where the actor-turned-politician is a Congress candidate– is BJP’s stronghold and he would lose his parliamentary seat. He said people would teach the BJP a lesson in the ongoing national election. Mr Sinha, who is seeking third term from the seat, also said that he would have loved an electoral contest with Prime Minister Narendra Modl.
“There was news in some quarters that Modi himself will enter the fray from Patna Sahib on a second seat in addition to Varansi … What happened?…I would have loved to take on him on the seat,” Mr Sinha, who recently joined the Congress, was quoted by news agency PTI.
Mr Sinha had won the Patna Sahib seat on BJP ticket in 2014. However, he grew apart from the party leadership over denial of a cabinet berth. Over the years, he played the role of the party’s in-house critic, attacking PM Modi on a host of issues.
The BJP never took any action against Mr Sinha, even when he attended an opposition’s rally. The party, however, fielded Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who is a Rajya Sabha member, in a message to Mr Sinha.
On BJP leader Sushil Modi’s comment that Mr Sinha would lose, he said the leader should have contested himself “instead of fielding a person (Mr Prasad) who cannot even win the municipal corporation election”.
Mr Sinha had said that he would not quit the BJP and that they would have to sack him.
In an interview to NDTV, he shared that before he decided to join the Congress, he had been invited by leaders like Arvind Kejriwal, Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav. But the Congress, he added, was the best option for him after the BJP “shut all doors” on him.
Voting in Patna Sahib will take place on May 19.
