Patna: BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha on Thursday pitched the name of Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan as the next President of India.
“It will be a matter of pride if Amitabh Bachchan, a cultural icon, is made president of the country,” Sinha told reporters in Patna, a day before the release of a biography on him “Anything but Khamosh”.
Amitabh Bachchan had favoured Sinha’s name as the next President of India recently. Reacting to the comment, the second term BJP Lok Sabha member from Patna Sahib, said “It’s his greatness. But, I will be happy if he graces the chair of President after Pranab Mukherjee.
“Amitabh Bachchan has achieved many a milestone in cultural and social fields and if he becomes president, it will fetch a good name for the country,” said Sinha, who has worked with the star in many successful movies like Kaala Pathar, Dostana and Shaan. Bachchan had also launched the biography on Sinha in Mumbai few days back.
'Much time for retirement’
Sinha also took the occasion to rule out any possibility of his retirement from politics anytime soon and promised to continue raising issues “objectively”.
“I am yet to see many springs in politics ... there is too much time for that (retirement),” said Sinha, who was apparently sidelined by the BJP during Bihar election last year.
Asked if wished to withdraw from politics like Bachhan, 70-year-old Sinha said the comparison was not even as “I have been member of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha for four times.”
The second term Lok Sabha member from Patna Sahib also denied that he was being “ignored” by the BJP and said he would participate in the party functions in days to come.
He also dismissed chance of leaving BJP. “I have said many times and say even today, BJP is my first choice and most probably would be the last choice,” he said.
Several leaders in the BJP have been angered previously with Sinha’s closeness with the party’s rivals like Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad.
“It’s all within the family ... you know utensils collide within family,” Sinha said on his not so sweet relations with the BJP leaders since eve of Bihar poll.
Sinha, who served as cabinet minister in NDA government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, said he joined BJP “at the peak of his film career when BJP used to be party of two MPs. My contribution to the party could not be ignored.”
“Politics is a mission for me and not a profession. I came to politics to do something for common man and would continue to raise issues concerned with them and which are also good for the party,” Sinha said.
Talking about the book written by a Mumbai-based journalist Bharti Pradhan, Sinha said it highlights his struggle to success both in film world and politics.
First released in Delhi by Sinha’s “friend, philosopher and guide” L K Advani, the biography was later launched by megastar Amitabh Bachchan in Mumbai.
The book would be launched in Patna on Friday at a function likely to be attended by CM Nitish Kumar and acting chief justice of the Patna high court Iqbal Ahmad Ansari. Sinha had recently indicated that many BJP leaders would not be invited for the book release function in Patna which would be a “cultural function”.
