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Shatrughan Sinha’s son Luv gets Congress ticket, to contest from Bankipore in Patna

Luv Sinha will be pitted against three-time BJP MLA Nitin Navin, who has held the seat since November 2005.

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Patna: Bollywood veteran Shatrughan Sinha’s son, Luv Sinha, is all set to make his political debut in the upcoming Bihar assembly elections.

Luv has been handed the Congress ticket for the Bankipore assembly seat, which falls under Patna Sahib Lok Sabha constituency that his father represented twice on a BJP ticket.

“Luv Sinha has been given the Bankipore assembly seat and will likely file his nomination papers today,” Congress spokesperson Harku Jha told ThePrint.

The constituency goes to the polls in the second phase of elections on 3 November.

The decision to field Luv at Bankipore has surprised even Shatrughan Sinha’s own supporters as the constituency is a BJP citadel. The older Sinha had himself tasted defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls when he contested on a Congress ticket from the Patna Sahib constituency, under which Bankipore falls.

“It is not that Luv is not familiar with Patna,” said Shatrughan Sinha’s close associate Rajiv Kank. “In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he camped in Patna and visited every corner of Patna Sahib. It is wrong to attribute Bankipore seat as a BJP seat.”

Luv is an actor himself. He made his Bollywood debut with Sadiyaan in 2009. The film did not click at the box office. He also featured in J.P. Dutta’s Paltan in 2018.


Also read: Modi’s image, Atmanirbhar Bharat key for Bihar BJP as concerns rise over ‘Nitish fatigue’


BJP citadel, formidable opponent

Luv Sinha will be pitted against the formidable three-time BJP MLA Nitin Navin, who has held the seat since November 2005. Navin has also recorded thumping wins in all the three elections he has contested from here.

He had in fact succeeded his father, the late Navan Kishor Prasad Sinha, who had held the seat right from 1995 onwards. Ironically, the late father was a close friend of Shatrughan Sinha.

“Bankipore and Patna Sahib have been BJP fortresses. Shatrughan Sinha himself must have realised it when he contested on a Congress ticket in 2019 and had to suffer a crushing seat,” Nitin Navin told ThePrint. “This is not the first time Congress has fielded film stars. In 2009 they tried Shekhar Suman who lost his deposit.”

Navin will also file his nomination papers today.

Bankipore is dominated by the Kayasthas, the upper caste that both Nitin and Luv belong to. If Patna Sahib is a BJP fortress, Bankipur assembly segment is the crown as BJP candidates always secure massive leads here.

Congress harbours little hope

Such is the reputation that some Congress already feel that the battle is lost. The seat is among the 70 of the total 243 seats that the Congress will contest in.

“The party just saw the volume of seats in negotiations and was handed over many seats that even the RJD would have not won,” a senior Congress leader said. “Bankipore is one of those seats where the fight is going to be more symbolic.”

There is also grumbling within the party over tickets being handed out to sons and daughters of political veterans.

The Congress has given tickets to many of sons and relatives of senior politicians. “We have given tickets to (state president) Madan Mohan Jha’s son, Sharad Yadav’s daughter even though she hardly knows Bihar, MP Akhilesh Singh’s son and many others. Why should Shatrughan Sinha be left out? At least he is a crowd puller unlike the rest,” mocked a Congress legislator.


Also read: Accused of murder, rape, extortion — 11 dons & wives fighting Bihar polls from RJD & JD(U)


 

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1 COMMENT

  1. One more failed star trying to rise on the political horizon. Modi somehow seems to smell the dynastic tendencies well ahead and keeps the at bay. So far he has not succumbed to praise singing and allow the second generation to come up without merit.
    Perfect Division of labor, I will get the votes, you perform and deliver without making money.

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