Divided Between Two 'Dharmas', Shatrughan Sinha's Lucknow Visit Leaves Colleagues Miffed

Lucknow: Poonam Sinha, wife of actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, filed her nomination papers from the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat on Thursday as a Samajwadi Party candidate.

She was accompanied by Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav. Poonam Sinha, who had joined the Samajwadi Party two days ago, will be pitted against Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Lucknow. She is the joint SP-BSP candidate.

Talking to reporters after filing the papers, she said: "I am confident of my victory. My party has done a lot of work here and I have the blessings of the people of Lucknow."

Poonam Sinha later took out a roadshow in which her husband Shatrughan Singh and two sons Luv and Kush were also present.

Shatrughan Sinha's presence at the road show triggered off a controversy. He had joined the Congress on April 6 while the roadshow was essentially a Samajwadi Party show.

"I am here not as a Congress leader but as a husband and surely I have the right to be by my wife's side at this time," he said. He also said that he would also campaign for his wife but not for any other non-Congress candidate.

Meanwhile, the Congress candidate from Lucknow, Acharya Pramod Krishna, also filed his nomination for the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat on Thursday. He said that Sinha has come here and fulfilled his duty as a husband, but I would like to request him to campaign for his party and fulfill his political dharma," he said.

The BJP has not lost any Lok Sabha election in Lucknow since 1991. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee represented the constituency from 1991 to 2004. After Vajpayee retired from active politics, BJP's Lalji Tandon won the high profile seat in 2009.

Rajnath Singh retained Lucknow for the party in 2014 by defeating Congress leader Rita Bahugna Joshi with a huge margin. Joshi later joined the BJP.

(With inputs from IANS)