Shotgun meets Rahul Gandhi, will join Congress on Navratri

New Delhi: Not the one to hold back punches — both verbal as well as physical, the “Bihari babu” of Hindi cinema, popularly known as “Shotgun Sinha” for his quick repartee and gift of the gab, well known actor and politician Shatrughan Sinha will formally join the Congress on April 6, the auspicious day of Navaratri.

Mr Sinha, who has been associated with the BJP since almost 30 years, had met Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday and was suppose to officially announce his association with the party, but later decided to do so on the April 6, which marks the beginning of the nine-days long Navaratri celebrations.

"Painfully....on the way out of BJP....But hopefully in the best direction under the dynamic leadership of my dear friend Lalu Yadav and the desirable, most talked about leader from the Nehru Gandhi family... the true family of nation builders..,” he tweeted on Thursday evening with a photograph of his him shaking hands with Mr Gandhi.

A close associate of BJP patriarch L K Advani, Mr Sinha had been openly critical of the party's various decisions and actions for the last three years.

When the BJP left out Mr Advani and another party veteran Mr Murli Manohar Joshi from its list of contestants for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Mr Sinha did not mince his words.

"For a man of the standing & stature of Shri. L.K.Advani & for other veterans like Shri Murli Manohar Joshi & Shri Shanta Kumar also...totally humiliating! It has hurt the entire nation. People are aghast at this action," he had tweeted.