New Delhi: Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha expressed gratitude Monday to Trinamool Congress (TMC) president Mamata Banerjee for nominating him from Asansol for the Lok Sabha bypoll. Shatrughan Sinha rejected the ‘outsider’ tag being attached to him by rivals.
Sinha has been a Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha member for two terms each. He said ‘Banerjee holds the future of the country. I will strengthen her hands in expanding khela hobe’ across the country.
‘Khela hobe’ (game on) was the battle cry of Banerjee in the fiercely fought Assembly elections in West Bengal last year. The TMC had emerged victorious in a resounding manner.
“I feel honoured by Mamata Banerjee herself announcing my name as the TMC candidate from Asansol in the Lok Sabha bypoll. She is a tried, tested and successful politician. She holds the nation’s future hope against ‘divisive politics’ pursued by the government of the day,” Sinha stated.
Sinha was asked whether he quit the Congress in favour of the West Bengal chief minister. “I will only say I have joined Banerjee in her fight for the communal harmony and welfare of the poor,” asserted the actor.
After quitting the BJP, Sinha, who had served as minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, joined the Congress and unsuccessfully fought from his native Patna Sahib Lok Sabha constituency in 2019. He was defeated by former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in the last parliamentary election.
The Congress did not give him much responsibility after the 2019 general polls. The actor-turned politician was lying low. Now with her name being announced by Banerjee for the parliamentary by-election from Asansol, Sinha has again hit the headlines.
“How can anybody call me an ‘outsider’? Like my ‘janmabhoomi’ (birth place) Bihar, Bengal has always been my weakness. I have done a large number of movies including the national award winning film Antarjali Jatra in Bangla language,” Sinha reasoned.
“Moreover, Asansol has a cosmopolitan population where besides my dear Bengali people, citizens from Bihar, Jharkhand and elsewhere are residing there in great numbers. If I am called an ‘outsider’ in Asansol, will you say the same for the Prime Minister contesting election from Varanasi?” Sinha shot back.
Sinha said notwithstanding being in a different party, he always had a good relationship with Banerjee. “Despite being a BJP MP, I had participated in her opposition rally at Brigade maidan in Kolkata in 2019. I have always appreciated her dynamic leadership and it will be a privilege for me to work in the party headed by her,” Sinha informed.