Bollywood: Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha to contest elections from Bengal

Former Bollywood actor Shatrughan Sinha, who quit the Congress and joined Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, will be contesting the by-elections to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, from Asansol, the second-largest city in West Bengal.

The 76-year-old actor-turned-politician was in the BJP and was a minister in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government about 20 years ago. He later quit the BJP and joined the Congress, before switching over to TMC.

Asked about his opponents describing him as an ‘outsider’ in Asansol, Sinha told a reporter: "How can anybody call me an 'outsider'? Like my 'janmabhoomi' (birthplace) Bihar, Bengal has always been my weakness.” He said he done many films in Bangla.

And Asansol is cosmopolitan with people from other states including Bihar and Jharkhand also staying there. “If I am called an 'outsider' in Asansol, will you say the same for the Prime Minister contesting election from Varanasi?" he asked.

The Asansol seat became vacant after Babul Supriyo, resigned as MP after quitting the BJP and joining the TMC. Supriyo had won elections from Asansol in 2014 and 2019, but has now been made the TMC candidate from the Ballygunge assembly constituency in Kolkata.

Sinha claimed that the TMC is heading to be a major opposition party. "She (Mamata) has definitely become the face of an alternative,” he said. “People are looking at her with hope. The Trinamool is on the cusp of becoming a national opposition force.”

• India