Ash be next to join politics

After 'Munnabhai' Sanjay Dutt, it could be the turn of Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls as a Samajwadi Party candidate.

Samajwadi Party workers and leaders in Bihar have decided to offer Aishwarya the party ticket for the Madhepura seat against Janata Dal-United (JD-U) national president Sharad Yadav, a party official said.

In view of the overwhelming demand of the party workers, the Samajwadi Party Bihar parliamentary board has recommended Aishwarya's name to party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Senior party leader Tulsi Singh told IANS that a large number of party workers and people had requested him to convince Mulayam Singh to give the party ticket to Aishwarya from Madhepura. Singh is chairman of the party's state parliamentary board.

The Madhepura seat is held by the Rashtriya Janata Dal's Pappu Yadav, who is serving life imprisonment in Tihar Jail in Delhi for his involvement in the murder of Left leader Ajit Sarkar. His wife Ranjita Ranjan is a Lok Janshakti Party MP from Saharsa.

JD-U leader Sharad Yadav is likely to contest from Madhepura, his old seat.

In the last Lok Sabha polls in 2004, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, the RJD chief, won from Madhepura by defeating Sharad Yadav. Lalu Prasad later resigned the Madhepura seat and opted to retain the Chapra seat.

Madhepura, a rural seat, is dominated by the backward Yadav caste. Last year, Madhepura was hit by devastating floods when the Kosi river changed its course after a breach upstream in Nepal.