“The one-man show and two-men army needs to be defeated,” said Shatrughan Sinha, alluding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah, at a joint rally held at Kurar village in Malad on Thursday.

Mr. Sinha, sitting MP from Patna Sahib in Bihar, was brought in to woo north Indian voters in Mumbai North and Mumbai North West constituencies, which go to the polls on April 29.

Beginning his speech by bellowing Khamosh in his trademark style, Mr. Sinha said that he joined the BJP at a time when it was under the leadership of politicians like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Murli Manohar Joshi, Yashwant Sinha and Lal Krishna Advani. He said, “It was a party that believed that the nation is bigger than the party, and the party is bigger than an individual. But after Vajpayee’s era, the democratic nature of the party has turned into an autocracy.”

Mr. Sinha criticised the BJP for introducing demonetisation and said he was among the first people to criticise the decision. He said, “Demonetisation was not a choice of the party, but the decision of an individual. Had it been a party choice, I would have known about it and so would the others.”

Mr. Sinha added that he was referred to as ‘revolver’ in the BJP for speaking out against demonetisation and the Goods & Services Tax. He said, “If speaking the truth is akin to revolting, then I am a revolver.” He said the BJP’s days are numbered as change is in the air.

Taking potshots

Actor Urmila Matondkar, who was present at the rally along with Sanjay Nirupam, criticised her opponent Gopal Shetty for calling farmers’ suicide a trend. “People remember our jawans, does anyone remember the kisan?” she said, referring to the famous phrase, Jai Jawan Jai Kisan, coined by former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Mr. Nirupam dubbed his opponent Gajanan Kiritikar ‘Mr. India’ because people in his constituency had apparently not seen Mr. Kirtikar in the last five years. Mr. Nirupam promised to work like a ‘corporator’ in his constituency if elected.