After turning down the BJP’s offer to contest Lok Sabha elections from West Bengal’s Asansol, Bhojpuri star Pawan Singh has announced that he will contest in the upcoming elections to fulfil the promise to his mother and the public at large.
In a complete U-turn on taking the political plunge, the Bhojpuri star tweeted, “I will contest elections to fulfil the promise made to my society, people and mother. Your blessings and cooperation are expected. Jai Mata Di.”
मैंअपने समाज जनता जनार्दन और माँ से किया हुआ वादा पूरा करने के लिए चुनाव लडूँगा
— Pawan Singh (@PawanSingh909) March 13, 2024
आप सभी का आशीर्वाद एवं सहयोग अपेक्षित है
जय माता दी
As per the News18 report, Singh is in talks with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) as the actor plans to contest from his home state Bihar. The report adds that he is holding negotiations with the regional party for the Ara Lok Sabha constituency ticket.
Reportedly, Singh earlier held negotiations with the BJP to secure a ticket from his home state Bihar. However, on 2nd March, the saffron party announced his name in its initial list of 195 candidates for the Lok Sabha and fielded him from West Bengal’s Asansol.
Following the announcement, he thanked the central leadership of BJP.
शीर्ष नेतृत्व को दिल से धन्यवाद. @narendramodi @AmitShah @JPNadda @TawdeVinod @mangalpandeybjp @BJPBengal @ArunSinghbjp @amitmalviya @DrSukantaBJP @SuvenduWB pic.twitter.com/56XV2Fe4SL
— Pawan Singh (@PawanSingh909) March 2, 2024
However, the ‘Bengali Vs Bihari’ divide fuelled by TMC prompted him to ‘preemptively withdraw’ from the Lok Sabha fray.
Subsequently, he shared a post from his official X account that he is withdrawing his candidature and wouldn’t be contesting the elections from Asansol.
भारतीय जनता पार्टी के शीर्ष नेतृत्व को दिल से आभार प्रकट करता हु।
— Pawan Singh (@PawanSingh909) March 3, 2024
पार्टी ने मुझ पर विश्वास करके आसनसोल का उम्मीदवार घोषित किया लेकिन किसी कारण वश में आसनसोल से चुनाव नहीं लड़ पाऊंगा…@JPNadda
The tweet read, “I express my heartfelt gratitude to the top leadership of Bharatiya Janata Party. The party trusted me and declared me as the candidate from Asansol but due to some reason I will not be able to contest the elections from Asansol…”
Nonetheless, his latest post announcing that he will contest the elections has led to speculations among certain sections of media regarding the supposed ambiguity in his post regarding the seat and political party from which he would be fighting in the upcoming polls. However, it is pertinent to note that Singh, also known as ‘Power Star’ in the Bhojpuri film industry, is a BJP leader who joined the saffron party in 2014.
