West Bengal Chief Minister And All India Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Sunday announced that actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha will be her party’s candidate in the upcoming Lok Sabha by-poll in Asansol. The seat was vacated by former Bollywood singer Babul Supriyo, who left the BJP to join the Trinamool Congress.
In a series of tweets, Banerjee said, “Happy to announce on behalf of the All India Trinamool Congress that Sri Shatrughan Sinha, former Union Minister and famed actor, will be our candidate in Loksabha by-election from Asansol.”
In her subsequent tweet, the TMC chief added, “Sri Babul Supriyo, former union minister and noted singer, will be our candidate in Vidhansabha by- election from Ballygunge. Jai Hind, Jai Bangla, Jai Ma- Mati- Manush!”
Happy to announce on behalf of the All India Trinamool Congress that Sri Shatrughan Sinha, former Union Minister and famed actor, will be our candidate in Loksabha by-election from Asansol. (1/2)
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) March 13, 2022
Shatrughan, a former BJP leader and a union minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, had left the saffron party to join the Congress ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. He had, however, lost his Patna Sahib seat to BJP’s Ravi Shankar’ Prasad.
Supriyo, who served as a union minister in the Narendra Modi government, had left the BJP last year to join the Trinamool Congress.
Both Supriyo and Sinha have had strong Bollywood links. Sinha had a long acting career in the Hindi film industry and shared screen spaces with prominent Bollywood actors such as Amitabh Bachchan and Rajesh Khanna among others.
