By IANS,
Lucknow : Wearing a red cap and playing the politician to the hilt, film actor Sanjay Dutt Saturday kick-started his election campaign as the Samajwadi Party nominee for the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat, describing himself as a “grassroots party worker”.
After arriving here in the afternoon, he drove down straight to the Samajwadi Party state headquarters where a huge contingent of the party’s youth activists were waiting for him.
A clean-shaven Sanjay was apparently all set to enliven his “Munnabhai” image which, in his own words, will hopefully will help him sail through the elections.
Quickly putting on the party’s red cap, he sought to mingle with the party cadres.
Addressing party activists, he said: “Before my arrival here, I was told by Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) and Amar Singhji that this red cap was the key identification of a grassroots Samajwadi Party worker. Therefore, I picked up a red cap for myself at the very outset.”
With Amar Singh besides him and Mulayam Singh’s son Akhilesh Yadav in tow, Dutt made it loud and clear that he was here to reach out to the electorate.
“With effect from now, I have shed my star status; I wish to be one of you and that is what I aim to tell the people of Lucknow.”
While Dutt remained brief and crisp, it was Amar Singh who took the mike and
sought to add some spice to the show
“If (Bhartiya Janata Party nominee) Lalji Tandon is entering the poll fray in (former prime minister) Atal Behari Vajpayee’s shoes, our Sanjay Dutt has the ‘lathi’ (walking stic) of none other than Mahatma Gandhi in his hand,” he said.
Vajpayee, who had represented Lucknow seat for five successive terms, will not be contesting this time around due to poor health.