Bollywood actoress Sonakshi Sinha on Friday said she supported her father Shatrughan Sinha’s decision to quit the Bharatiya Janata Party and join the Congress, adding that her father “should have done it long ago”.
Shatrughan Sinha, who has been a vocal critic of the BJP since he was denied a cabinet post in 2014, has questioned the ruling party over decisions such as demonetisation, air strikes in Pakistan’s Balakot in February and denial of party ticket to veteran leader LK Advani from Gujarat’s Gandhinagar for national elections.
He announced that he would quit the BJP on Thursday after his meeting with Congress President Rahul Gandhi.
His exit comes days after the the party chose Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad as party’s candidate from Bihar’s Patna Sahib, Shatrughan Sinha is member of parliament from this constituency for 10 years.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Sinha said, “I think if you are not happy with how things are going on around you, you should not shy away from change. That’s what he did.”
Shatrughan Sinha tweeted on Thursday, “Painfully….on the way out of BJP….But hopefully in the best direction under the dynamic leadership of my dear friend Lalu Yadav and the desirable, most talked about leader from the Nehru Gandhi family… the true family of nation builders….”
In another tweet on Friday, he shared pictures of him meeting with Mr. Gandhi and called him the “hope of the nation”.
He will join the Congress on the 6th of April.
Sonakshi Sinha while speaking to reporters at HT India’s Most Stylish 2019 awards said, “It’s his decision. Being a party member from the beginning from the time of JP Narayan ji, Atal ji and Advani ji, my father has a lot of respect within the party and I feel the entire group has not been given the respect they deserve. I think he has done it a bit too late, and he should’ve done it long back. I hope in his new association with the Congress, he will be able to do a lot of good work and does not feel suppressed.”