Wrong to see my utterances as `anti-Modi`: Shatrughan Sinha

With his "frank" opinion on Narendra Modi and LK Advani leaving many leaders in BJP red faced, actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha said he did not violate party discipline and stuck to his remarks.

Patna: With his "frank" opinion on Narendra Modi and L K Advani leaving many leaders in BJP red faced, actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha on Thursday said he did not violate party discipline and stuck to his remarks.
"It is wrong to see my statement as anti-Narendra Modi or pro-Modi...It is pro-BJP," Sinha, a Lok Sabha member from Patna Saheb, told.

"I merely said that if BJP Parliamentary Board chooses Narendra Modi, whose name is energising party workers, as Prime Ministerial candidate, he should have the blessings and guidance of veteran party leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sushma Swaraj, Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha among others," Sinha said.

When told that the party might initiate action against him for his "frank" opinion, Sinha said "I stand by what I said and I have not violated any party discipline."

"BJP is in a very good position to win 2014 parliamentary elections and so I have put some suggestions to make the party strong," he said.

"I came to BJP at the peak of my Bollywood career and as a disciplined soldier of the party, I can never think of harming BJP...My utterances are for good of the party," he said.

Sinha, who has been a star campaigner of BJP since long, claimed he was the first person to talk in favour of Narendra Modi that he has the potential to become a good national leader, to which Yashwant Sinha also referred.

On his meeting Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who is targetted by BJP after the split, Sinha said "it was no secret meeting but a sacred one."

"I had gone to enquire about his health as I enjoy a personal and affectionate relationship with him," Sinha said adding "we also shared anxiety over the death of 23 children in midday meal tragedy at Chhapra".

When told that people are seeing his two-hour meeting with Nitish Kumar as significant as a Nitish-Shatrughan Sinha combination could be a "deadly and formidable one for others", Sinha thanked for the compliment but said "yesterday`s call on Nitish was a social one and not political."

PTI

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