Patna, Jan. 28: His twin threats of taking political sanyas and joining the RJD has ensured actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha a BJP ticket for the Patna Saheb Lok Sabha constituency.

shatrughan_sinha

Top party sources revealed that BJP president Rajnath Singh has “assured” Shotgun — as the actor is popularly known — of the ticket for the seat, which still has two contenders — Ravishankar Prasad and R.K. Sinha.

The actor yesterday said that he would take sanyas from politics, if the party refused him a ticket from his “home constituency”. Those lobbying for the actor argue that Prasad still had three-and-a-half years in the Rajya Sabha, while Sinha — who too belongs to Patna — is not the member of any House after the party refused to give him a third term in the Upper House last year.

Moreover, sources said that Shatrughan had been signalling to join Lalu Prasad’s RJD to contest the Patna Saheb seat, if the BJP denied him the ticket. “Laluji could have readily accepted Shotgun as his party’s nominee for Kayastha-dominated Patna Saheb,” said an aide of Lalu Prasad.

BJP sources said that Rajnath pleaded to other leaders not to “test Shatrughan’s patience much” in the election year in which the party is set with the “bigger goal” to make L.K. Advani as the Prime Minister.

Supporters of R.K. Sinha, the chairman and owner of SIS, the largest security agency in India, are said to be still putting pressure on the leadership to give the “veteran who has never been member either of the Rajya Sabha or the Lok Sabha” his due. R.K. Sinha also enjoys the backing from the local RSS unit.

His aides feel that the “tussle” between Shotgun and Prasad for the ticket ahead of the BJP and JD(U) discussing the seat-sharing issue had tarnished the party’s image and the party should consider R.K. Sinha who has “silently” served its cause.

But the BJP sources said that the party, conscious of its “star-studded image”, could ill afford to antagonise Shatrughan Sinha.

Source: The Telegraph

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