It does not look like a cakewalk for Bollywood actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, BJP candidate and sitting MP from Bihar’s Patna Sahib, who now faces a Bhojpuri filmstar.
Congress fielded Bhojpuri superstar Kunal Singh and the ruling JD-U fielded a reputed doctor Gopal Prasad Sinha while Aam Aadmi Party’s candidate is Perween Amanullah, a former minister and an RTI activist.
Sinha may find it tough convincing the electorate, who accuse him of neglecting them after winning the last two polls. elections. Singh, who is a popular figure from the Bhojpuri film industry, is ready to take on Sinha, popularly known as Bihari Babu in Bollywood.
“It is not going to be a political battle for polls between two stars. It will be a contest between secular and communal political ideology,” said Singh who has acted in over 100 Bhojpuri films.
“I represent a simple concept of the Congress that development should be for all without any discrimination and all people are equal,” said Singh whose father late Budhadev Singh was an MLA from Bakhtiarpur and Danapur. The two Assembly segments fall under the Patna Sahib and Patliputra Lok Sabha constituencies.
Singh said, “I am a chhota aadmi (small man) and belong to a village unlike Shatrughan Sinha. People will realise it and support me.” Singh added that he is not worried about the star and money power of Shatrughan Sinha.
Sinha, who filed his nomination papers on Friday to contest from Patna Sahib, was shown black flags by some people who opposed his candidature and accused him of neglecting the constituency.
Some BJP leaders said there was resentment among party workers after it fielded Sinha, who rarely visits the constituency. “Not only party workers, the majority of people in Patna are not happy with Shatrughan Sinha,” a BJP leader said.