Shatrughan Sinha's praise for Nitish Kumar over NDA's poll win in Bihar raises eyebrows

Kolkata: TMC MP Shatrughan Sinha praised Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar following the electoral success of the BJP-led NDA in that state and congratulated the people and parties around him.

His statement on X singing paeons to the Kumar, also the JD(U) chief, brought a surprise in political circles, as his party said it was the personal opinion of the actor-turned-politician who hailed from Bihar.

In his political career, Sinha changed various parties. He was a Rajya Sabha member between 1996 and 2008, during which he was a Union minister under Prime Minister Stal Bihari Vajpayee. He was elected on BJP ticket from Patna Sahib Lok Sabha seat in 2009.

Ten years later, he joined the Congress, and in 2022, he again went to Lok Sabha on TMC ticket in a by-election from West Bengal’s Asansol. He was re-elected from that seat in 2024.

Following the landslide victory of the NDA in the Bihar assembly elections, Sinha praised Nitish Kumar in a post on X and shared several photographs featuring the two. Kumar's JD(U) is a constituent of the NDA and won 85 of the 101 seats it contested.

“Congratulations! To the people of our Bihar for getting the Govt they deserve, voted for & the leadership of the most admired, gentleman politician, @NiteshKumar for being Bihar's longest-serving, trusted, tried, tested & successful CM. He seems to have lived upto people's expectations,” he said.

The 79-year-old leader said, “Kudos to all the people/ parties around him. God Bless & congratulations to all. Jai Bihar! Jai Hind!” He tagged West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal and others to the post.

TMC spokesperson Debangshu Bhattacharya told PTI that Sinha's Bihar connection may have prompted him to come up with such a comment.

“However, the party will talk to him to ascertain why he said so. What he said is entirely his personal opinion and not the view of TMC," said Bhattacharya, also the IT cell head of the party.

BJP MLA from Asansol South Agnimitra Paul claimed Sinha has exposed the rift within the TMC and his disenchantment with the top party leadership.

“TMC's move to bring Sinha from outside the state and someone not belonging to Asansol seems to have backfired as he had failed to deliver as an MP from the seat," she claimed.