BHOPAL: A short meeting between Bollywood actor Govinda and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath in Bhopal on Friday has fuelled speculation that the actor-turned-politician might contest on a Congress ticket from Indore, which is being represented by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan for last eight terms.
In 2004 Lok Sabha polls, the then giant-slayer, Govinda, had defeated BJP stalwart Ram Naik from Mumbai North by around 48,000 votes.
However, state Congress media convener NS Saluja, who hails from Indore, dubbed the meeting as a courtesy call.
Last year, Govinda had occupied the centre stage at the tribal outfit Jai Adivasi Yuva Shakti’s programme in Dhar district before the MP Assembly polls. The actor had also taken part in an event related to the then CM and senior BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s Narmada Sewa Yatra in May 2017.
He is the third Bollywood actor whose name is in the race for a Congress ticket from Indore, which has been a saffron citadel since 1989. Earlier, actors Salman Khan and Arun Govil’s names were doing the rounds.
Both the Congress and the BJP have not declared their candidates from Indore.
A confident Kamal Nath on Saturday said that his party will win 22-23 out of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in the general elections. “The BJP won’t get more than 160 seats this time in the country, while the Congress will win 22-23 seats in MP alone,” he claimed.
The Madhya Pradesh chief minister also claimed former Union minister and four-time sitting MP from Guna Jyotiraditya Scindia will contest from the same seat.