“Party pyaari hai, parivar se badhkar nahin,” Congress’ Shatrughan Sinha campaigns for SP candidate and his wife Poonam Sinha

Congress leader Shatrughan Sinha campaigning for his wife Poonam Sinha, Samajwadi Party leader

Congress leader Shatrughan Sinha seems to be forgetting which political party he belongs to as he was today found campaigning for his wife and Samajwadi Party leader Poonam Sinha against Congress’ candidate Acharya Pramod. When confronted with it, Sinha said, “Party pyaari hai, but parivar se badh kar nahin hai. (I love the party, but not as much as my family.)”

Within days of joining the grand old party, Shatrughan Sinha has turned out to be an embarrassment for the Congress. Today, Shatrughan Sinha was out and about campaigning for his wife Poonam Sinha, the Samajwadi Party candidate for the Lucknow Lok Sabha constituency even as Congress has fielded Acharya Pramod from Lucknow.

In a road show held earlier today, Sinha had joined his wife Poonam and Samajwadi Party leader Dimple Yadav, urging people to vote for his wife. This, apparently, has miffed Acharya Pramod who has asked Sinha to decide whether he is playing for the party or the family. He has now gone on to say that Rahul Gandhi must ask Sinha should also follow ‘party dharm’ instead of the ‘patni dharm’ he is currently following.

As reported by Republic, Acharya Pramod said, “Shatrughan Sinha and Akhilesh Yadav should decide whether Rahul Gandhi should become the Prime Minister or Narendra Modi.” It is embarrassing considering BSP and SP have kept Congress out of the pre-poll alliance. Hence having Shatrughan Sinha to campaign for a BSP-SP alliance candidate instead of his own colleague has eventually left Congress red-faced.

The day Sinha had joined Congress, Union Minister and BJP leader Arun Jaitley had wished luck to Congress, saying, “our problem is now yours“. Jaitley said, “Some eminent former BJP men have been accepted by the Congress as a gift. We thank Congress. Our problem is now yours. Good luck!”

The actor-turned-politician had been openly speaking against BJP and taking part in Opposition rallies for quite some time before being unceremoniously booted out. He was particularly upset after BJP decided to field Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib seat, from where he is a sitting MP. Sinha then joined Congress and is contesting from a Congress ticket from the same Patna Sahib seat.

Amidst all this, if politicians are keeping their family first, where does the nation come in the list of priorities?

OpIndia Staff: Staff reporter at OpIndia