"As Long As I Am In The BJP": Shatrughan Sinha Explains His No-Trust Vote

Shatrughan Sinha said he will vote against the opposition-driven no confidence motion against PM Modi

Shatrughan Sinha, the BJP's in-house critic, ended speculation over his vote in tomorrow's no-trust motion against PM Narendra Modi government, saying he would definitely vote along with his party BJP against the motion.

"As long as I am in the BJP... I'll support it and follow every rule including a whip," the actor-turned politician said, wondering why anyone thought he would have gone any other way.

"I am saying it like an open book," Mr Sinha said, pointing sarcastically that he did often get to hear a lot about his imminent exit from the party but he was still around.

Mr Sinha, called Shotgun for his acerbic comments that consistently attack his own party, has been among the six BJP lawmakers being tracked by the opposition in the hope they might end up embarrassing their party at Friday's vote.

The two-time MP has had an uneasy relationship with his party for a few years and often cribs that the party, under PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, had relegated him to the spectator seats in Bihar. After former minister Yashwant Sinha quit the party earlier this year, the former actor had received unsolicited advice from many BJP leaders to consider exiting the party.

Mr Sinha had then dared the party to fire him.

The actor-turned-politician, however, clearly doesn't intend to make it any easier for the BJP to see his back.

Voting against the party line in the no-trust vote in Lok Sabha would have given the party a clear reason. Under the law, legislators in parliament and assemblies have to vote according to their party's orders or risk losing their seat in Parliament.

The lawmaker from Bihar's Patna Sahib seat has also explained why he thought the opposition-backed no-confidence motion was bad tactics.

"It would have been better if this motion had come in after some more time... when some of the issues flagged by the opposition had ripened a bit," Mr Sinha said, pointing that it might not have altered the outcome but the debate would have been more interesting.

Coming on the back of string of electoral defeats in the last few bypolls, Mr Sinha said the no-trust vote had come as a huge morale booster for the BJP.

"We really needed the boost after our rival parties after the way the opposition tasted blood in so many by-elections," he said.
"It (BJP) can send a good message," he said.

The actor-politician justified his critical comments on different issues, saying it was like showing "mirror" and that he would continue doing so in future. "But, this is all within the family," he told news agency Press Trust of India.

"I am a member of the BJP and will follow party command as a disciplined soldier...I will be with the party during the troubled times and go with it to defeat the opposition-sponsored no-confidence vote," Mr Sinha said.