BJP’s Shatrughan Sinha has been vocal critic of his party for quite sometime now. The Patna MP was on Tuesday advised by a party colleague to quit if he doesn’t like the BJP.
The advice came from Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi during a TV debate on Tuesday night. Sushil Modi said Sinha has “fallen into the bad company of Yashwant Sinha.”
Sinha, a Bollywood actor-turned-politician, often lashes out at his own party leaders, that too from public platforms. He has also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi on several issues.
“Shatrughan Sinha is also my icon but the manner in which he is targeting the BJP, he should quit. He is using unwarranted language against the party which had made him the cabinet minister, a Rajya Sabha MP for two terms and also gave two terms in the Lok Sabha,” said the deputy CM.
What is embarrassing BJP more is that while criticising his own party, Sinha has, of late, started visiting opposition leaders and showering praises on them. “He met Lalu Prasad and has started projecting his son as CM of Bihar,” said Sushil Modi.
Sinha, who had earlier visited ailing Lalu Prasad at his Patna residence, also called on him at RIIMS, Ranchi, where is undergoing treatment since December last.
Sushil Modi dared Sinha to leave the BJP and then contest from Patna Sahib if he is so sure of his popularity. “His victory in last parliamentary elections was made possible by the joint efforts of BJP leaders Nand Kishore Yadav, Sanjeev Chaurasia, Arun Kumar Sinha and Nitish Navin,” he claimed.
Sushil Modi, whose name is doing rounds in the political circles as a probable BJP candidate from Patna Sahib, left it to the party to take a call. “If the party decides, I will contest. I am born in the BJP and will die in this party,” he said.
Sushil Modi was elected as an MP from Bhagalpur in 2004 before becoming the deputy chief minister in the Nitish Kumar-led NDA ministry in 2005.
Sinha, in all likelihood, will not get the BJP ticket following his anti-party stand over several issues, said officials aware of developments.
The BJP MP had announced his intention to contest again from Patna Sahib in 2019, but did not specify which party he would represent. “The BJP did not give me a ticket; I took it on my own. And I will contest from Patna Sahib again,” he had told party workers at a meet. “The location (constituency) will be the same, even if the situation is otherwise.”
Sinha has been cosying up to opposition parties such as the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress but is yet to disclose which one he might team up with in 2019. He has praised RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, calling him a “very mature leader”.
Yadav reciprocated the gesture at an iftar party last year. “Chacha (Shatrughan Sinha) is with us,” he said, fuelling speculation that Sinha could be the RJD candidate for the Patna Sahib seat in 2019.
The two-time Lok Sabha MP has also openly praised Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.
First Published: Jan 16, 2019 18:47 IST
Source: HindustanTimes