By Subhash K. Jha
Mumbai, May 18 (IANS): “Khamosh!” is what Bollywood veteran Shatrughan Sinha has to say to actor Shekhar Suman after defeating him from Bihar's Patna Saheb parliamentary constituency.
Sinha, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate who proved to be the true 'Bihari Babu', was upset with Congress nominee Suman's aggressive campaign against him.
"I'd just like to tell him, 'Khamosh!'," he bellowed in true Shatrughan Sinha style.
"Now that I've been brought back with such aan, baan and shaan (style) by the people of Bihar, could Shekhar Suman please shut up? He should not have stooped so low in his efforts to gain votes. In the last lap of his campaign his slanderous comments about me worked completely against him. They were personal, illegal, illogical and immoral," Sinha said.
"It's fine to campaign for your own cause. But why hit out so viciously at someone who in the past has treated him like a brother and friend? Desperate attempts to win votes no longer work. This election proves it...The people refused to vote for 'chamchas' of political parties," said Sinha, who was minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and was twice member of the Rajya Sabha.
Both Sinha and Suman were contesting for the Lok Sabha for the first time.
Asked about his party faring poorly in the polls, he said: "Hmmmm...I'd say people have voted for both individuals and the parties that they believe in. I've to admit I'm dismayed by our party's performance. Yes, we've failed. We all need to sit down and introspect on what went wrong so that we don't make the same mistakes again."
But Sinha already has a clear idea of what he wants to do for Bihar.
"I'd like to join hands with the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) and my friend Nitish Kumar (Bihar chief minister). We need to clean the Ganga, get a central status for Patna University and focus on getting a special package from the centre for Bihar. I'd never like to forget that the mandate is from the people of Bihar. Yes, the Bihari Babu has come home again. It's time to make all my dreams for my state come true," he said.
Hours after his victory, his family residence in the Kadam Kuan area of Rajendranagar in Patna was a beehive of animated activity. The atmosphere was festive with party workers and well-wishers celebrating his win. And most overjoyed was Sinha's wife Poonam.
"More overwhelming than the victory is the response of people all around us. Everyone thinks my husband can now fix things in their lives," she said.