 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Actor-turned-politician and Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Shatrughan Sinha on Saturday strongly favoured invitation to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for campaigning for the upcoming assembly elections in Bihar.
"I think Narendra Modi should be invited for campaigning in the upcoming assembly elections in Bihar," Sinha said.
The Bihari Babu told rediff.com in Patna on Saturday that he strongly favoured the idea to invite Narendra Modi or even controversial Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi for campaigning in Bihar.
"It is a demand among party workers and leaders who will be contesting the polls. They want that Narendra Modi and Varun Gandhi to campaign for them in polls," Sinha said.
Sinha's open support for Narendra Modi to campaign in Bihar is a set back to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Janata Dal-United national president Sharad Yadav, who are against Modi campaigning in the state, in view of fear to lose the Muslim votes in polls.
Earlier this month Sharad Yadav said no to Narendra Modi campaigning in the state for the assembly elections. Nitish Kumar had time and again stated similar feelings.
Interestingly, a few days ago, a senior BJP leader and Bihar Cooperative Minister Giriraj Singh announced that he would invite Modi for campaigning in his constituency if he contests in the upcoming assembly elections.
Narendra Modi had not campaigned for the National Democratic Alliance in Bihar in any election after the Godhra riots of 2002.
The JD-U, which has been consistently making attempts to woo Muslim voters in the state, strongly opposed Modi's coming to Bihar for even the Lok Sabha election campaign in 2009.
Differences between Nitish Kumar and the BJP were also evident on June 12 when he expressed displeasure over newspaper advertisements featuring him and Narendra Modi. An angry Nitish Kumar cancelled a dinner for BJP leaders attending its national executive meeting in Patna.
Image: BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha