Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha took to Twitter on the morning of 19th May, appealing to Bihar to vote for her father and Bollywood veteran Shatrugan Sinha. Her tweet read, “Bihar… It’s time to vote for your Bihari Babu Shatrugan Sinha! Press number 2 on the EVM with the right hand symbol and make the right choice”
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Competition in Patna Sahib toughest in all of Bihar
The seat is being called the seat with the closest competition in the whole of Bihar. Over 18 candidates are contesting on the seat; however the real race is between Congress’ Shatrugan Sinha and BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad. With the poll predictions definitely in favour of Prasad, who also happens to be a Union Minister, Sonakshi appealed to her followers on Twitter in order to give her father whatever little support she could. However, the race still promise to be neck-to-neck and it is unclear till now who will win the seat.
Shatrugan Sinha and his political history
The actor is most famously known for his movies Dostana, Loha, and Jaani Dushman. He was a member of the Bharatiya Janta Party in the very beginning, when no one really thought the party would amount to anything. However, he fell out with senior party leaders as he was against the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as the party President Amit Shah. Upon defecting from the BJP, Sinha joined the Congress and has been an MP from the INC ever since. To combat his presence in Patna Sahib, the ticket from BJP on Patna Sahib had been given to Ravi Shankar Prasad, and so far it looks as though the race is too tight to be able to successfully say who has succeeded.
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The Bharatiya Janta Party has dismissed Sinha as an irrelevant inconvenience, saying that all of his victories were on account of his association with the BJP and due to any of his own charisma. Known for his outspokenness, Sinha has time and again criticized the BJP led government calling it a “One Man Show”.
With even the exit polls showing a confusing and mixed picture, it remains to be seen on the 23rd of May as to who will win the coveted seat in this fight of Titans.