‘Modi is the only PM in any democracy in the world who hasn’t done a press conference in 10 years’: Shatrughan Sinha

Veteran politician, Bollywood star and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader, Shatrughan Sinha, 77, had won from the Asansol parliamentary constituency in a bypoll in 2022 by over 3 lakh votes. He is again contesting on his party’s ticket from the Asansol seat, which is going to polls in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha polls on May 13. He is pitted against senior BJP leader S S Ahluwalia. In an interview with The Indian Express, Shatrughan speaks on various issues ranging from the BJP’s campaign to his prospects. Excerpts:

Any election has to be taken seriously. Last time, by the grace of God and under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee — who seems to be the most powerful, popular and important leader in the country — we recorded the TMC’s first victory in Asansol, that too by a record margin of over 3 lakh votes. After that, I have been coming here regularly, at least twice a month, attending all festivals like Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Chhath Puja, Eid, etc. Ek pehchan ban gayi hai (I have become familiar with the constituency), and I hope we’ll break our previous victory margin.

They had earlier fielded someone else (Bhojpuri singer and actor Pawan Singh), but he withdrew, or was forced to withdraw his nomination. I don’t want to comment on this, as it is their party’s internal affair. But S S Ahluwalia is a senior, experienced man and I always consider him to be a gentleman with a good sense of humour. However, after competing from Darjeeling, he ran away and came to Bardhaman-Durgapur, where he scraped through in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. He has been sent to Asansol at the last moment, that too against someone who has no corruption allegations and has done all his work with honesty and transparency. But Ahluwalia has to first