Patna: After achieving huge success in Bhojpuri films, actor Sudip Pandey has become a star campaigner for the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the forthcoming Bihar Assembly election.
On Wednesday, he joined the NCP in the presence of former Union Minister Praful Patel and Jayant Patil at the party’s headquarters in Mumbai.
Pandey has a huge fan following in north India, especially in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Delhi and Chhattisgarh. The party is likely to project Pandey as the young face of north Indians in Maharashtra after Nawab Malik, who is a cabinet minister in the Uddhav Thackeray-led coalition government.
“As we all know, a large number of north Indians, especially from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh live in Maharashtra. It will be a great opportunity for me to work for them,” Pandey told IANS.
“The party has put a huge responsibility upon my shoulders ahead of the important Bihar Assembly election and now it is my job to do well and gain maximum political ground for the party in Bihar. I am committed to it,” Pandey said.
He added: “People in Bihar are not aware of what is called real development. They are just content with whatever little progress Bihar has made under Nitish Kumar’s rule. The current progress is too slow and it would take centuries for Bihar to become a developed state at this speed. Why do labourers migrate to Maharashtra if Bihar is really progressing? There is huge unemployment and no new industry is being launched in the state. I feel bad to see the real situation in Bihar.”
“In Maharashtra, we have better roads, agricultural system, water, irrigation and electricity facilities than in any other part of the country. Our supreme leader Sharad Pawar is an architect in the overall development of Maharashtra. He is a visionary leader of the country and I want NCP to achieve a similar position in Bihar for its real development,” Pandey said.
He has played lead roles in over 40 hit Bhojpuri films apart from some Hindi movies. He had joined the Congress party on September 10, but was not impressed with the working style of its leaders in Bihar. Hence, he resigned from the party.
When asked about why he joined the NCP, he said: “Apart from being an actor, I am also a software engineer and am impressed with the educational backgrounds of the NCP leaders. There is so much positivity around them. It would be a great opportunity for me to work for our people living in Maharashtra as well as in the north Indian states.”
The NCP is expected to go it alone in the Bihar Assembly election after negotiations on seat sharing with the RJD and Congress failed. However, the party has not finalised the number of seats it will contest in Bihar.
