New Delhi: Shatrughan Sinha, who had twice won Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket (in 2009 and 2014), joined the Congress on Saturday and spewed venom against his former party. 

Sinha, an acclaimed cine star, has a long history in politics but had fallen out with the BJP leadership. He decided to jump ship after being denied a ticket for the upcoming general election by the BJP. 

Sinha joined the Congress in the presence of senior party leaders KC Venugopal and spokesperson Randeep Surjewala. Interestingly, the actor-turned-politician joined the Rahul Gandhi-led party on the Sansthapna Diwas or Foundation Day of his former party, the BJP.

Sinha came down hard on the BJP, saying that under the new leadership, the party has killed “internal democracy”. “I saw democracy changing into dictatorship in the BJP; it has become one-man show and two-man army,” Sinha alleged. 

When asked about a comment he made earlier lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the former BJP leader said, “I used to call him dashing and dynamic... for his 56-inch chest. Today, Rahul Gandhi is the face of the nation and future of the nation.”

Also Read: Nitin Gadkari, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Radha Mohan Singh among big BJP names in first list; Shatrughan Sinha 'axed'

Taking a jibe at the BJP for snubbing veteran leader LK Advani, Sinha said, "Advaniji was sent to the mardarshak mandal which hasn't even held a single meeting so far. They did the same to Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha... I was told that I had been a critic and so I will not be given a cabinet post... but my image has been clean."

Sinha had harsh words for the demonetisation introduced by the Modi government in 2016, calling it "probably the world's biggest scam".

Reacting to Sinha's statements, Union minister Piyush Goyal said, "Where were Shotgun's (Sinha) principles when he voted for the BJP in Parliament till very recently?"

The 72-year-old politician is likely to contest as the opposition alliance candidate from Bihar's Patna Sahib, from where he has been winning for the past decade. 
 
There were reports that the RJD was also interested in having Sinha into its fold, and his admission into the Congress was delayed by the tussle between the Congress and RJD over him.