Patna, July 23: Fresh trouble brewed in the BJP when Patna Sahib MP Shatrughan Sinha stressed the need for keeping L.K. Advani at the helm of affairs in the party.
“If Narendra Modi is to be our prime ministerial candidate, it should be with the blessings of L.K. Advani,” the actor-turned-politician said today.
He hailed Advani as the “acceptable” leader and statesman of the party.
“There is no doubt that Narendra Modi is the most popular leader. But it would be better if he has the ashirwaad (blessings) of Advaniji,” said Sinha.
The Lok Sabha MP also wanted party national president Rajnath Singh and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi to ensure help is sought from senior leaders like Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha and Murli Manohar Joshi for the 2014 elections.
“I will also appeal to the party leadership to revoke the expulsion of Ram Jethmalani from the party,” he added.
He, however, stressed that he was not against Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate. “In fact, I was the first one to voice my support for him. Yashwant Sinha followed me. All I want is that the party should get its acts right and stand united at the time when we are making a bid for a government in Delhi,” he said.
Sinha, in his hey days has served as a mascot for the BJP and a crowd puller in Bihar. However, his supporters are angry over his exclusion from the “Modi team”.
The former Bollywood star has dismissed it as a “lollipop”.
“I was once made the art and culture cell chief of the party. I did not know a thing about the unit or where its office was,” he joked. However, the spotlight on him in BJP’s politics appears to be shifting away.
“It’s not the first time Shatrughan Sinha has put the party in an awkward position by his statements. He keeps on making such statements to pull the spotlight back on himself,” remarked a senior BJP leader, recalling that the actor’s statements have become frequent off late because elections are due in 2014.
The Patna Sahib seat, represented by the star, is considered the safest seat of the party in Bihar — a seat the BJP used to win even without an alliance with the JD(U).
