Bihar Polls 2020: Shatrughan Sinha said he will begin campaigning for Luv Sinha later this week (File)
With his son Luv Sinha taking the electoral plunge from Bankipur assembly seat in Patna, actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha today said it's an encouraging trend that the youth are entering politics, but made it clear that he is not retiring.
The Congress has fielded Luv Sinha from the Bankipur seat, a BJP stronghold from where the party has nominated three-time MLA Nitin Nabin.
This seat falls under the Patna Sahib Lok Sabha constituency, currently held by Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad who had won against Shatrughan Sinha in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Shatrughan Sinha, who represented the parliamentary seat twice when he was in the BJP, had switched over to the Congress just before the Lok Sabha polls.
Shatrughan Sinha, popularly known as "Bihari Babu", said his son has jumped into the fray as a Congress choice and also because the youth of the constituency wanted a new face who carries out development work sincerely.
The Bollywood veteran, however, said that this doesn't mean that he is saying goodbye to politics.
"I am not tired and retired. I will continue in active politics," the 74-year-old told news agency PTI over phone.
Shatrughan Sinha, who has been named as Congress' star campaigner for the Bihar polls along with former party president Rahul Gandhi and others, said he will begin campaigning for his son later this week.
Luv Sinha has filed his nomination papers from the seat which will go to polls in the second phase on November 3.
Presently, he is meeting people of his constituency. He is accompanied by his mother Poonam Sinha, who had unsuccessfully contested against now defence minister Rajnath Singh from Lucknow in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Shatrughan Sinha rejected suggestions that his son is a parachute candidate.
"He is fighting election as "Bihari putra" (son of Bihar). He has worked in the constituency since 2009 when I first contested the Lok Sabha election from Patna Sahib constituency," the actor-politician said.
Facing the daunting task of taking on a three-time sitting MLA, Luv Sinha has said he has decided to fight the "uphill battle" on his political debut by challenging the BJP in its bastion in order to prove his mettle.