Ahead of crucial Lok Sabha elections, Bollywood actor Govinda on Thursday joined Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena in the presence of the Maharashtra Chief Minister in Mumbai. Sources told India Today that Govinda may contest from the North-West Mumbai Lok Sabha seat, challenging Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Amol Kirtikar.
After joining Sena, the veteran actor said: "I was in politics from 2004 to 2009 and that was the 14th Lok Sabha. This is an amazing coincidence that now, after 14 years, today I have come into politics again."
Earlier in the day, Govinda met Chief Minister Shinde earlier in the day and later joined Sena at Balasaheb Bhavan. NCP (Sharad Pawar) leader Jayant Patil took a jibe at Shinde and said: "He (Govinda) is not a popular actor. Eknath Shinde should have taken an actor who has popularity. He should have taken a good actor. I think Eknath Shinde does not watch movies. If he would be watching movies, he would know who is a better actor."
This is Govinda's second inning in politics. In the 2004 Lok Sabha election, Govinda contested the Mumbai North Lok Sabha under the Congress banner. He defeated the senior BJP leader, Ram Naik. However, Govinda later parted ways with the Congress party and politics, deciding not to contest elections in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
Lok Sabha polls for Maharashtra's 48 seats will be held in five phases between April 19 and May 20 and votes will be counted on June 4.