TMC’s ‘street fighter’ chief Mamata Banerjee to be game-changer in 2024 Lok Sabha polls: Shatrughan Sinha

Shatrughan Sinha emerged triumphant on Saturday in West Bengal’s Asansol Lok Sabha bypoll

A day after winning the Asansol parliamentary seat for the TMC by over three lakh votes, Shatrughan Sinha said the party's "street fighter" supremo Mamata Banerjee will prove to be a "game-changer" in the 2024 General Election.

In an interview with PTI, he credited Ms. Banerjee, the West Bengal Chief Minister, with the victory from Asansol, a seat that the Trinamool Congress won for the first time.

Popularly called 'Shotgun Sinha', the actor-turned-politician, who had started his political career with the BJP but shifted to the Congress before the 2019 parliamentary polls and now to the TMC, said he has now found the "right direction".

"One has to travel a lot to find the right direction... thus far and no further," he said when asked if the TMC will be his final destination in politics.

Mr. Sinha said over phone from Asansol that he was excited to start a new and the "best innings" with the Trinamool Congress.

He said Ms. Banerjee is gaining popularity across the country after inflicting a crushing defeat on the BJP in the West Bengal Assembly polls last year.

"The victory in Asansol was due to the able leadership of Mr. Banerjee and the hard work of TMC leaders and workers. This can be seen as an extension of her 'khela hobe' (game is on) slogan." He said the TMC had decimated the BJP in the West Bengal polls in 2021 notwithstanding the "misuse" of money and power by the BJP.