Anubhi Saxena
New Delhi | Patna Sahib lawmaker Shatrughan Sinha, who sustains a bitter equation with the leadership of his party, is ready to quit the BJP “at once”. He will contest the coming general elections on a Congress ticket. On the other hand, Former Samajwadi party MP Jaya Prada joined the BJP on Tuesday.
After constantly facing jibes from Shatrughan Sinha, BJP MP from Patna Sahib, the BJP finally advised the veteran actor to leave the party “if he does not like it”. The advice came from Bihar’s deputy CM and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi addressing Sinha, “fallen into bad company of Yashwant Sinha”.
Jaya Prada was invited by the Azam Khan to Rampur for her former party. The two leaders reportedly have a clash, which began after she shifted to the Amar Singh camp in SP. Azam Khan had harassed her during the 2009 elections. She referred Azam Khan and his supporters for circulating nude photos of her on social media.
[bctt tweet=”Support BJP and Jaya Prada Raise your voice!”]Sinha, an actor-turned-politician, has virtually turned into a BJP rebel, beating out at his own party leaders on national and state issues. He has also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi on issues like rising fuel prices, demonetisation, Rafale deal and the Vijay Mallya case. Mr Sinha has been making piercing attacks on his party and its leadership.
Jaya Prada, who is a Bollywood veteran, joined the Samajwadi Party but was removed due to anti-party activities in 2010. A two-term Lok Sabha member from the SP, she is a close co-worker of Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh, who was exhausted from the regional party and has since come close to Hindutva fountainhead Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
What embarrassed the BJP most that while criticizing the party for denotion and GST, Sinha also started meeting opposition leaders, including Lalu Prasad. “He met Lalu Prasad and has started projecting his son as CM of Bihar,” said Modi. Sinha, who had been visiting Lalu at his Patna residence, also went to RIIMS in Ranchi December last to meet the RJD chief.
With Jaya Prada joining the BJP, the party’s “star power” will also be boosted as it already has the likes of Hema Malini and Paresh Rawal in its ranks. She will likely to contest from Rampur as she has been elected from there twice.
When asked about Bihar BJP leader Sushil Modi’s comment that he is done with the BJP, he told news agency IANS: “Who is this Modi? I only know one Modi in the BJP. The real action hero, our Prime Minister, the honourable Narendra Modi ji. Who are these small fries to tell me what to do? Tell them to please find some other way to get publicity rather than by using my name.” Modi also dared Sinha to contest from Patna Sahib if he was so sure of his popularity. “His victory in last parliamentary elections was made possible by the joint efforts of BJP leaders like Nand Kishore Yadav, Sanjeev Chaurasia, Arun Kumar Sinha and Nitisn Navin,” he said.
On the other hand, Jaya is very thankful to her new party. Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she described him as a “brave” leader in whose hands the country is “safe”. “This is a significant moment for me. Be it cinema or politics, I have worked with all my heart and dedicated my life to it. Thankful to the BJP for this respect,” Jaya Prada told the media.
