A day after Bharatiya Janata Party rebel leaders Yashwant Sinha and party MP Shatrughan Sinha participated in Jayaprakash Naryan’s birth anniversary at Samajwadi Party office in Lucknow, the SP indicated that Shatrughan Sinha could be its candidate from Varanasi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

A senior SP leader said that the actor, popularly known as ‘Shotgun’, may take on PM Modi from Varanasi in 2019. Sinha, who has been sulking ever since the National Democratic Alliance government came to power at the Centre in May 2014, has stepped up his tirade against the Prime Minister for the last few months. 

Sources in the SP said that the actor-turned-politician could be an asset for the party as besides getting a lions share of Kayastha votes, he would be able to polarise the anti-BJP votes in Varanasi. The holy city is also closer to Shatrughan Sinha’s home state Bihar.

The SP source said that discussion to field the Patna Sahib BJP MP from Varanasi was in progress and a decision could be taken soon.

He also suggested that the party was in talks with Aam Aadmi Party for support. AAP convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had contested the 2014 Lok Sabha poll from Varanasi and had lost.

A former Member of Parliament of SP said, “It is incorrect to suggest that Sinha does not have any influence in Varanasi. BJP’s Shrish Chandra Dixit and Raj Kishore of Communist Party of India (Marxist) had locked horns in Varanasi and the latter had a slight upper edge, but three days before polling, Sinha along with Lal Krishna Advani, had addressed a meeting and changed the equation in favour of the BJP,” he said.

Meanwhile, SP co-coordinator of Shivpur Assembly seat in Varanasi, Anand Mohan, said, “People of Varanasi are fed up with the BJP rule and its MP, who has not done much for them. People now want change. The decision to field Sinha from Varanasi in 2019 lies solely with the SP brass. If it happens, Sinha will win with a huge margin for sure.”