Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha joined the Congress on Saturday at the party headquarters in New Delhi. He was with the BJP till recently.
Hours later, the Congress announced his candidature for the Patna Sahib Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar to take on Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal, party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and in charge of party’s Bihar unit Shaktisinh Gohil welcomed Mr. Sinha into the party fold. Mr. Venugopal termed him the “best politician who was earlier with the wrong party“.
The Patna Sahib seat is currently held by Mr. Sinha, who has often openly criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.
"The BJP has become one-man show and two-men army ," said Mr. Sinha after joining the Congress.
Mr. Sinha recently met Congress president Rahul Gandhi at the latter's residence in New Delhi.
Mr. Sinha had been at odds with the BJP over several issues and criticised the demonetisation exercise and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax. He even attended the rally hosted by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata in January 2019 as a representative of the Rashtra Manch, a political action group launched by former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha.
“My elder brother Yashwant Sinha was saying that after this I will be definitely removed from the party, I told him koi baat nahi hai [no problem],” he said at the rally attended by several Opposition leaders.
