BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha, who is known to criticise his own party, wished Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Holi on Thursday but cautioned him that the public will be reminded of “unanswered questions” if he got defensive on the Congress’s ‘Chowkidar’ campaign.
“Happy Holi to you, Sirji. Once again I’ll remind you politely but firmly that don’t get into the sting of the operations of #Chowkidar. The more you are defensive of Chowkidar, the more the Nation will be reminded of unanswered questions & the Rafale deal which people have been very desperate to know,” Sinha tweeted.
In a radio address on Wednesday, PM Modi had targeted the ‘chowkidar’ campaign of the Congress. The Prime Minister said chowkidar is the flavour of the season, referring to BJP’s “Main Bhi Chowkidar” campaign on social media.
Modi said the entire nation is taking a pledge to be a chowkidar and “calling a chowkidar chor repeatedly is an insult to all chowkidars.”
In his response to Modi’s address, Shatrughan Sinha tweeted that the PM’s “defiant mood” may not go down well with the public and chowkidars, whose conditions, he said, aren’t desirable. Sinha had taken a dig at PM Modi’s radio address on Wednesay too. “Sir! Please address the the problems long overdue instead of addressing the Chowkidars. Let’s all play Holi rather than “Rafale Chor and Chowkidar,” he had tweeted.
There have been speculations that Sinha, the BJP MP from Patna Sahib, may contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on a Congress ticket. Sinha had last week said that he would reveal on March 22 which party he would align with in the polls. He has been critical of the BJP and the Narendra Modi government, and openly aligned with the opposition parties in the last couple of years.
Senior BJP leader and Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is expected to get a BJP nomination for the seat.
The disgruntled Sinha had participated in two mega rallies organised by the opposition, in Kolkata and New Delhi. In both the rallies, he had targeted the NDA government over the Rafale aircraft deal. He has often referred to his proximity to the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad. The RJD and the Congress are part of the opposition alliance in Bihar.
Sinha is a two-time sitting MP from Patna Sahib Lok Sabha seat. In 2014, he defeated Gopal Prasad Sinha of the Janata Dal-United, the alliance partner of the BJP in Bihar. In 2009, the actor-turned-politician had won this seat after defeating television personality Shekhar Suman, who contested on the Congress party’s ticket. He was a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government. He held the portfolios of health and shipping ministries during his stint as a Union minister in the government.
First Published:
Mar 21, 2019 16:46 IST
Source: HindustanTimes