Lok Sabha elections: Shatrughan Sinha to contest from Patna Sahib on Congress ticket, say sources

According to sources, Shatrughan Sinha will be contesting the upcoming general elections from Patna Sahib in Bihar on a Congress ticket.

Shatrughan Sinha. Photo: File

PATNA: Rebel BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Patna Sahib Parliamentary constituency in Bihar on a Congress ticket, sources said on Tuesday. Sinha is the sitting MP from Patna Sahib and has adopted a belligerent approach towards the saffron party criticising it over a range of issues since the 2015 Bihar Assembly election. Sources said Sinha also played a major role in bringing the parties of the 'mahagathbandhan' together after there appeared a disagreement among them on the issue of seat-sharing. They said the Congress party, which wanted more seats, has now agreed over nine, including Patna Sahib. Under pressure from other allies, the RJD was not keen to give more than nine of 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state to Congress but the latter was keen to contest at least 11. This comes after the BJP on Sunday hinted it will replace Sinha, who has been critical of the party's top leadership on several occasions in the past, with some other candidate from the prestigious seats. The names which have been doing the rounds for Patna Sahib- a BJP stronghold - include Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rajya Sabha member R K Sinha and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi. Earlier in the month, Sinha had said he will not change his constituency in the coming Lok Sabha election "whatever the situation", making clear he would contest again from his seat irrespective of the party decision. "Situation kuch bhi ho, location wahi hogi (Whatever the situation, location would be same)," Sinha said. He has often taken a stance at variance with the official party line, including on demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax, and shared the stage with opposition leaders at an anti-BJP rally in Kolkata in January, where he was projected as the "star speaker". On a recent visit to Lucknow, he had held a meeting with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, giving rise to speculation his wife Poonam Sinha may enter active politics from the Uttar Pradesh capital, currently represented in Lok Sabha by Home Minister Rajnath Singh.