Will Shotgun fight Lok Sabha poll on SP ticket? Rumours afloat after Akhilesh meets BJP MP 

Sinha, who has been indulging in direct attacks on the prime minister for quite some time, could be a probable candidate from Varanasi due to his clout among the kayastha community.
BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha (File | EPS)
BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha (File | EPS)

LUCKNOW: Speculations over the future of dissident BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha were rife in the political circles as he met Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav here on Tuesday. The meeting of the former Bollywood actor is being viewed as a move by him to contest upcoming Lok Sabha elections on Samajwadi Party ticket.

Earlier also, there were conjectures to this effect that the actor, popularly known as 'Shotgun' may contest Lok Sabha elections as an SP candidate against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi. Notably, in the seat sharing arrangement with the BSP, Varanasi has fallen in SP quota of 37 seats. Sinha, who has been indulging in direct attacks on the prime minister for quite some time, could be a probable candidate from Varanasi due to his clout among the Kayastha community in the city and also because Varanasi borders his home state Bihar.

Emerging from a meeting with Akhilesh at SP headquarters, Sinha cautioned against celebrating the IAF airstrikes in Pakistan. “We can feel good about the strikes but the time is not proper for celebrations till the action reaches a logical end,” said the sulking BJP MP. Promising support to PM Modi on the issue, Sinha said the government should taken such an action which could prove to be a deterrent for Pakistan so that it did not dare to do a repeat of Pulwama ever again.

Meanwhile, in another major development,  Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav claimed on Tuesday that he had clinched an alliance with the BSP to ensure "record victory" fro his father and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav from the seat of his choice in Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Akhilesh’s statement assumes significance keeping SP patriarch’s public condemnation of his son’s alliance move recently as he felt that SP chief had compromised with the interests of Samajwadis and surrendered to the BSP. Mayawati and Akhilesh had jointly announced the alliance in January, saying the BSP and the SP will contest 38 parliamentary seats each out of the 80 in Uttar Pradesh. However, when the parties released the list of seats shared between them, the SP got 37 seats and the BSP 38.

However, the SP chief contradicted Mulayam sentiments over the alliance with BSP saying that before going to make the formal announcement, he had met ‘Netaji’ and got his blessings. "I had informed him that in the alliance SP will be getting half of the seats," said Akhilesh while talking to media persons.
It may be recalled that Mulayam had recently expressed his dismay saying due to the alliance with BSP, SP had already accepted its defeat on half of the seats in the state.

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