Mamata as PM? Shatrughan Sinha plays safe by calling her 'national leader'
Kolkata, Jan 18 (IBNS): Despite planning to attend West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's anti-BJP mega rally on Saturday, rebel Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Shatrughan Sinha played safe when he was questioned about the chances of the former as the next Prime Minister.
Sinha, who leaves no opportunity to attack his own party, BJP and has been recently told to quit the party if he does not like it, said the decision on the Prime Minister will be taken only after the results of the 2019 General Elections.
However, the actor-turned politician, who has been asked by Bihar deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi to quit the party “if he doesn’t like it”, upheld Mamata, who is also the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief, as a "national leader".
At a TV show, Sushil Kumar Modi, as reported in media, said “Shatrughan Sinha should quit since he is using all sorts of language against the party that made him the Cabinet minister, two-term Rajya Sabha member and two-term Lok Sabha member."
With his anti-BJP top leadership stand along with the likes of other BJP renegades like Yashwant Sinha, Shatrughan Sinha's attendance in the Mamata rally aimed at building an anti-BJP front ahead of polls is seen as a political move by the Bollywood actor turned BJP politician.
In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, which had witnessed a Narendra Modi wave almost across the country, Mamata's TMC had won 34 out of 42 seats from West Bengal.
The Saturday rally, which has been termed as "United India rally" by Mamata, is expected to showcase a host of national as well as state leaders who are opposed to the BJP which rules the Centre.
Congress' top brass Sonia and Rahul Gandhi may be skipping the rally but they are sending their party leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday. Congress' Abhishek Manu Singhvi will also be present, the TMC supremo confirmed.
Others like Telegu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, DMK's MK Stalin, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal are likely to attend the meeting.
Speaking about the rally, which will perhaps not witness any of the Left parties, Mamata said: "I think all the leaders are coming. It is a platform to fight the 2019 battle against BJP. Every political party will give their message. Earlier in 1989, when Jyoti Basu was alive, he organised a rally that time. But the rally was not that big..... this one will also be historic and a mega rally."
Image: Wikimedia Commons
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