Rebel BJP MP from Patna Shahib Shatrughan Sinha on Tuesday said he would reveal on March 22 which party he would contest from in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections but insisted that he would fight only from the constituency that he had won twice.
Voting in Patna Sahib will take place on May 19.
“Just wait and watch. No more speculations required. It will be clear on March 22.My stand is clear that I will contest the 2019 general election from Patna Sahib constituency. I will continue to stay among my brothers and well-wishers here,” said Sinha.
Maintaining that he would not change his constituency under any circumstance, the two-time MP claimed he could win an election from anywhere, but Patna Sahib remained close to his heart due to his long association with the people.
The actor-turned-politician had comfortably won the Patna Sahib seat in 2014 defeating the JD (U) candidate Gopal Prasad Sinha by almost four lakh votes. While Sinha received 4,85,905 votes, his rival could fetch only 91, 024 votes.
In 2009, Sinha had defeated television host Shekhar Suman who had contested from the Congress party. Out of total 5521293 votes polled, Sinha received 316, 472 votes while Suman got only 61,308 votes.
The BJP had distanced itself from Sinha a long time ago following his anti-party barbs from public platforms. The state organization in Bihar neither involved him nor invited him to the various party programmes including the March 3 Sankap rally where Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the NDA’s election campaign. Despite being sidelined, Sinha has so far desisted from quitting the party.
The Bihari Babu, as SInha is popularly known, has been in talks with both Congress and RJD for his candidature from Patna Sahib. But he is weighing his options keeping in mind the winning potential of the two parties from the constituency.
Both Sinha and former BJP MP from Darbhanga, Kirti Azad shall need full support of the RJD if the grand alliance doesn’t break ahead of the polls to retain their seats they earlier won as BJP candidates. Azad officially joined Congress in New Delhi last month after meeting party president Rahul Gandhi.
The NDA too is yet to finalise its candidate from Patna Sahib. Several names including that of Sushil Modi and Ram Kripal Yadav have cropped up in the recent past as the potential candidate to contest the prestigious seat.
Shatrughan Sinha was a minister in the cabinet of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He was first appointed as union minister for health and family welfare in 2003 but within a year his portfolio was changed and he was given shipping ministry. He was also anointed head of the BJP’s cultural and arts department in 2006.