Disgruntled BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha may join Congress, contest from Patna Sahib seat: Sources

Disgruntled BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha is likely to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Patna Sahib constituency in Bihar on a Congress ticket, according to sources. 

The development comes amid the BJP, during the Chief Election Committee meeting, deciding to drop Sinha from Patna Sahib Lok Sabha constituency from where he is currently a sitting MP, they added. 

According to reports, the decision was taken in the meeting which was chaired by BJP president Amit Shah, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi and party’s Bihar unit chief Nityanand Rai.

Also, Sinha is likely to be replaced by Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib seat. 

Last week, Sinha had hinted that he would not be working under Narendra Modi anymore, tweeting an Urdu verse that implied the Prime Minister may not have dearth of admirers but the dissident BJP leader would not be one of them.

Though he did not mention Prime Minister Modi in his tweets, the wordings made it clear who he was referring too. In his tweets, Sinha often refers to the Prime Minister as "sir".

Associated with the BJP since the 1990s, Sinha fell out with the party's leadership in the recent past, complaining it has become a "one-man show and two-man army"-- a reference apparently to the Prime Minister and his trusted aide and party president Amit Shah.

Sinha has repeatedly asserted he would seek a re-election from the Patna Sahib seat though it may be as a candidate of a different party.

Sinha had served as a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and is serving his second consecutive term as MP from Patna Sahib.

He has also indicated that an announcement on which of the opposition parties he will be joining was likely next week.