Shatrughan Sinha with Manish Sisodia and Dilip Pandey at the event in Nand Nagri on Friday. Amit Mehra
AAP leader Dilip Pandey’s bid for the northeast Delhi Lok Sabha constituency had a soft launch on Friday, with rebel BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha urging people to support him, and also firing salvos at his own party. Incidentally, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari is the incumbent MP from the northeast Delhi constituency, which houses a large number of migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, whose support is essential for candidates contesting from the seat. The event, at Nand Nagri, was the launch of a skill development programme for 28 manual scavengers, identified by a team headed by Shahdara District Magistrate Kumar Mahesh. Pandey was appointed the “in-charge” of the constituency by the AAP in June. The party has since maintained that the appointment as “in-charge” was not indicative of who the Lok Sabha candidate would be.
“He (Pandey) is extremely dynamic. I respect him a lot. Please bless him so that not only he remains happy, but he keeps you all happy as well,” Sinha said.
The party is yet to put anyone in charge of the New Delhi and west Delhi seats.
Sinha, who has expressed his liking for the AAP in the past as well, heaped praises on the Delhi government for bringing about “revolutionary changes” in the education and health sectors, despite “obstacles”. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam were also present on the occasion.
“I am from a so-called different party, I am called a rebel, sulking, angry. Whatever may be the case, I know my lakshman rekha. I will be loyal as long as I am associated with a forum. In this age of chamchagiri (sycophancy), people should know that speaking the truth is not a crime,” Sinha, the MP from Patna Sahib, said.
“I say all this knowing that a party is bigger than an individual. But the country is bigger than a party. People should check the mirror at times when I show it to them… I know I cannot speak my mind (mann ki baat), as someone has a patent on it, but I will speak from my heart,” he added.
The veteran actor, who was a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Cabinet, said he skipped the special screening of his daughter Sonakshi Sinha’s latest film to be with his “extended family” in the capital, and ended his address by raising slogans of “long live AAP and long live Delhi government”.
In June, Sinha, along with Yashwant Sinha, had addressed a rally organised by AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh at Varanasi, the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He had also hailed the decision of the Delhi High Court to set aside the Election Commission’s order on the disqualification of 20 AAP MLAs in the office of profit case. Meanwhile, BJP workers turned up with black flags at the event to protest against Sinha’s presence.