‘Modi wave’ will take BJP to nearly 300: Shatrughan Sinha

Patna: Claiming a strong “Modi wave” in Bihar and the country as a whole, actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha, seeking re-election from native Patna Sahib, on Sunday said going by the current trend, it could be said that BJP will not only accomplish “mission 272? but might win 300 Lok Sabha seats on its own.

“I can see a strong Modi wave in Bihar and other parts of the country. Going by the current trend, we can undoubtedly say that our mission 272 will be accomplished easily. Rather BJP will go beyond that and touch 300 seats on its own,” an upbeat Sinha told PTI before setting out for campaign.

67-year-old Sinha, popularly known as “Bihari Babu”, compared the situation prevailing in the current parliamentary elections to one the nation saw in 1977 when Janata Party swept aside Congress from power.

Battling voters’ complaint of not being visible in the constituency, an allegation the actor-turned politician rubbishes, Sinha appears benefitting from a “Modi wave” in his bid to win Lok Sabha election from Patna Sahib for the second consecutive term. The seat will go to polls on April 17.

Asked that today he was all praise for Narendra Modi whose candidature for Prime Ministership he had opposed initially, Sinha said, “Once the BJP Parliamentary Board took a decision in this regard, as a disciplined soldier of the party I respected the decision.

“If you rewind your memory, I was the first to say Modi will make a good Prime Minister. Besides, it was me who for the first time called him as ‘Namo’ (short for his name) at a function in S K Memorial hall in Patna which is today on everybody’s lip,” he said.

While counting virtues of Modi, Sinha said the contribution of veteran party leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani can never be forgotten.

“Advaniji is credited with making BJP from a party of two MPs to that of 180 MPs. How can his contribution be ignored?”

Sinha, who on many occasions has described the veteran BJP leader as his “ideological guru”, said.

Asked about removal of Jaswant Singh and suspension of his son Manvendra Singh from BJP, Sinha, in a tongue-in-cheek remark, said, “At the moment like Mahabhartha’s Arjuna who set his vision on eyes of a moving fish, I am focused on the current Lok Sabha elections.”

About the absence of “Dabaang” fame daughter Sonakshi Sinha from campaigning for him, Sinha said he himself was enough and does not need any actor/politician to bat for him.

Sinha’s actress wife Poonam Sinha and son Luv and Kush Sinha are with him moving through narrow lanes of the capital to seek votes for him.

On his Congress rival Kunal Singh, a Bhojpuri actor, making an indirect barb at him during campaigning that people do not need a representative who does not come out of airconditioned comfort, he retorted by saying that many people were claiming Singh has emerged on the poll scene as a “barsati medak” (rain water frog).