Shatrughan Sinha, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Bihar’s Patna Sahib, might be dropped by his party in favour of Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2019.

Speculations are rife that the actor-turned-politician, who has been a bitter critic of the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will not be named in the list of BJP candidates for the elections.

What gave a boost to the speculations were Sinha’s tweets posted on 15 March – a day before the central election committee meeting – where he hinted that he might no longer be part of the party.

“Sir, the Nation respects you, but the only thing the leadership lacks is credibility & trust factor. “Leadership jo kar rahi hai or jo kah rahi hai, kya log uspe vishwas kar rahein hain? Shayad nahin!” Any way it all seems to be too little and too late? Promises made in the past are still to be fulfilled,” he wrote apparently taking a swipe at the PM.

“Hope, wish & pray, though I may not be with you anymore – “Mohabbat karne vaale kam na honge, (shayad) teri mehfil mein lekin hum na honge”,” he added.

past are still to be fulfilled. Hope, wish & pray, though I may not be with you anymore – “Mohabbat karne vaale kam na honge, (shayad) teri mehfil mein lekin hum na honge”.

— Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) March 15, 2019

Sinha has been bitterly critical of the party’s top leadership, including PM Modi, on several occasions in the past.

His latest acerbic criticism came on 14 March when he called the series of projects launched by the Prime Minister just before the announcement of the election dates as “jumlas” that came “too little and too late”.

“In the last week/month of your term, you have announced 150 projects in UP, Benares & other parts of the country. Technically speaking it may not be against the code of conduct, but certainly it seems to be too little and too late ‘jumlas’,” he wrote.

“Still, wishing you all the best inspite of your looking London and talking Tokyo attitude and your shoot and scoot behavior. Jai Hind!” added Sinha in his jibe at PM Modi.

of the country. Technically speaking it may not be against the code of conduct, but certainly it seems to be too little and too late ‘jumlas’. Still, wishing you all the best inspite of your looking London and talking Tokyo attitude and your shoot and scoot behavior. Jai Hind !

— Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) March 14, 2019

Sinha has in the recent past attended anti-BJP rallies called by various opposition parties including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

According to reports, the names of Rajya Sabha MP RK Sinha as well as Prasad were discussed for the Patna Sahib seat during the BJP’s central election committee in New Delhi on Saturday night.

Reports say that while Prasad might be fielded from Patna Sahib, RK Sinha could contest from Ara.

The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi and party’s Bihar unit chief Nityanand Rai.

BJP had bagged 22 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar in the 2014 elections.

Bihar will see polling in seven phases on all the dates between 11 April and 19 May. The counting will happen on 23 May and the results will be announced on the same day.