Priya Dutt, MP from Mumbai Northwest, can heave a sigh of relief. She will not have to face brother Sanjay in the next Lok Sabha election.
Priya Dutt, MP from Mumbai Northwest, can heave a sigh of relief. She will not have to face brother Sanjay in the next Lok Sabha election.
The Samajwadi Party on Thursday announced that it would field the bad boy of the Hindi film industry from Lucknow, constituency of former prime minister and BJP veteran Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
While Sanjay Dutt was not immediately available for comment, Priya, who is in New Delhi, extended her “best wishes” to him. The siblings have not been on the best of terms after Sanjay married Maanyata. There are even rumours that Maanyata pushed Sanjay into politics.
The Congress in Maharashtra, which was not keen on fielding Sanjay from any constituency in Mumbai, is believed to be calling it good riddance. Besides creating an unnecessary rift in the party, fielding Sanjay would have meant having to do a lot of explaining. Sanjay was convicted under the Arms Act in the 1993 serial blasts case—he is out on bail with an appeal pending.
Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh said the party would move the Election Commission or the Supreme Court if Sanjay, who has been sentenced to six years in prison, is barred from contesting the election.
Sanjay had made public his desire to contest the elections after he was cleared of terrorism charges in the 1993 case. This had created a flutter within the Congress as well as the family, with questions being raised about Priya’s political future.
A politician close to the Dutts said “there was tension as supporters of Sanjay and Priya were vying for the same seat.”
After father Sunil Dutt’s death, Priya had won the Mumbai Northwest seat by a record margin. But in delimitation, the seat was divided into two — Mumbai North-Central and Mumbai Northwest. Sanjay’s supporters wanted the Congress to field him from one of the two seats.
Other aspirants were also instrumental in pushing Sanjay’s name to trigger a dispute within the family and corner the tickets.
Party officials close to Priya said that “knowing Sanjay’s close association with Amar Singh, we are not surprised with the SP’s offer”.
Apart from Sanjay, the Samajwadi Party will field two other film stars. The party has renominated Jaya Prada from Rampur and fielded Bhojpuri star Manoj Tewari from Gorakhpur.
(Additional reportage by Javed M Ansari in New delhi)
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