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Broad hints in Shatrughan Sinha’s ‘courtesy call’ on RJD’s Rabri Devi
Patna Saheb is my first and last choice, Patna Saheb has been a stronghold of the BJP for decades. The RJD hopes Sinha’s candidature from there would make the fight tough for the BJP.
Dissident BJP leader and sitting Patna Saheb MP Shatrughan Sinha on Thursday met former chief minister Rabri Devi and leader of the opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, stoking speculation that the actor-turned-politician could get a ticket from the RJD to contest from his traditional seat if he leaves the BJP.
Sinha himself described his meeting with Rabri as a ‘courtesy call’.
Asked whether he was keen on a ticket from the RJD for Patna Saheb, the MP was evasive. He was talking to mediapersons after meeting the RJD’s first family members at their 10, Circular Road, residence in Patna.
“All things about my future political course would be known soon. Like, from where I will contest and on which symbol. Once it is announced, everybody would know.But, yes, Patna Saheb is my first and last choice,” he said.
Sinha, however, dropped hints that he would soon leave the BJP and said the recent NDA’s rally did not attract as much crowd to qualify as a ‘Raila’, a term coined during RJD rule when Lalu Prasad used to organise grand poliitcal events to show his might in Bihar.
Patna Saheb has been a stronghold of the BJP for decades. The RJD hopes Sinha’s candidature from there would make the fight tough for the BJP.
RJD’s Misa Bharti, a Rajya Sabha member and Lalu Prasad’s eldest daughter, said Sinha had long been offered to join the RJD. “ He ( read Sinha) has to decide whether to join the RJD or any other outfit, if he leaves the BJP,” she said.
Sinha, who was a minister in Vajpayee government, has been upset with the BJP brass for years now. Recently, he embarrassed the BJP when he shared dais with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and 19 opposition party leaders in Kolkata, an event organised to display show of unity among the opposition forces against the BJP-led NDA government at the centre.
Last Saturday, Sinha had also met incarcerated RJD chief Lalu Prasad at RIMS, Ranchi, where the latter is undergoing medical treatment for various ailments.
Meanwhile, the RJD has called its parliamentary board meeting on Saturday to discuss the election campaign and also authorise the RJD chief Lalu Prasad to finalise the selection of candidates and seat sharing deal with various allies of the grand alliance.
