Rebel BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha to join Congress on April 6
New Delhi, Mar 28: Bollywood actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha's entry into the Congress has been delayed after tussle intensified within the Bihar Mahagathbandhan over seat sharing.
Sinha, who has been associated with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for about three decades, is likely to join Congress on April 6 and will take on Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. He has held the seat since 2009 for the BJP.
Congress In-charge of Bihar, Shakti Singh Gohil on Thursday confirmed that Shatrughan Sinha will be joining the party. "Shatrughan Sinha Ji has decided that he will join Congress party and will work as our star leader and star campaigner," he said.
Sinha is a two-term BJP Lok Sabha member from Patna Sahib Singh but has been dropped by the saffron party which has chosen to field union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from the seat.
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'Masterstroke
by
master
of
situation':
Shatrughan
Sinha's
compliment
to
Rahul
Sinha
has
been
openly
critical
of
Prime
Minister
Narendra
Modi
and
BJP
president
Amit
Shah.
Speculation
had
been
rife
for
some
time
that
he
would
join
the
Congress,
which
is
an
ally
of
the
'Mahagathbandhan' which
also
consists
of
the
Rashtriya
Janata
Dal
(RJD)
and
other
local
parties.
Asked whether Sinha would be induced in the party in the presence of (AICC) president Rahul Gandhi, as was being speculated in the media, Singh said Top leaders will be present on the occasion".
Sources in the 'Mahagathbandhan' had recently claimed that there was a tug of war between the Congress and RJD over Sinhas candidature as Lalu Prasad's party, with which the 'Bihari Babu' shares cordial relations, was said to be keen on fielding him on its own symbol.
Congress has been contesting from Patna Sahib whenever it has fought the Lok Sabha polls in alliance with the RJD and Singhs statement indicate that decks have been cleared for Sinhas candidature by the Congress leadership.
Singh, however, dodged queries about Kirti Azad, another BJP MP who had recently joined the Congress saying he will be contesting elections. From where, it will be decided by the party.
Advani replaced deliberately, Amit Shah no match for him: Shatrughan Sinha
Azad is serving his second consecutive term in the Lok Sabha from Darbhanga and the Congress wants to field him from the seat as the constituency has a large population of Maithil Brahmins as its traditional supporters.
RJD has been insisting that it has won the Darbhanga seat many times and would like to contest it again with its senior leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui as its candidate.