Shatrughan Sinha campaigns for wife Poonam Sinha in Lucknow

Lucknow | Congress leader Shatrughan Sinha campaigned for wife Poonam Sinha in the roadshow before filing her nomination from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

“I am here not as a Congress leader but as a husband and surely I have the right to be by my wife’s side at this time,” Shatrughan Sinha said, addressing the massive crowd from the top of the bus during the road show.

“Our twin sons too, are here. The issue is of the family, the issue is the mahagathbandhan (SP-BSP-RLD alliance), the issue is of mahaparivartan (major change), the issue is of Samajwadi Party, the issue is of Bahujan Samaj Party; the issue is of Lucknow’s development, the issue is of UP’s development; and above all the issue is of restoring the country’s lost glory. In the fight against injustice, we are with you. Our family is with you.”

The actor-turned-politician, who recently quit the BJP after more than three decades in the party, said he would also campaign for his wife but “not for any other non-Congress candidate”.

Poonam Singh will be taking on Union Minister and BJP leader Rajnath Singh from Lucknow.

The Congress has fielded its own candidate from Lucknow, Acharya Pramod Krishnan. He expressed displeasure at Sinha’s campaigning for wife in Samajwadi Party.

“I am confident of my victory. My party has done a lot of work here and I have the blessings of the people of Lucknow,” Poonam Sinha told reporters.

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee represented Lucknow from 1991 to 2004.

Poonam Sinha joined the Samajwadi Party on Tuesday, in the presence of Dimple Yadav, wife of SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav.

Akhilesh Yadav announced her candidacy from Lucknow yesterday.

Shatrughan Sinha formally joined the Congress on April 6 in the presence of the Congress president Rahul Gandhi. He has been fielded from Patna Sahib as the Congress’s candidate against Ravi Shankar Prasad.