A senior Congress leader has claimed that Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shatrughan Sinha will join his party at 11.30 am on March 28, PTI reported. Sinha will get a Lok Sabha election ticket from the Patna Sahib constituency, which he already represents, claimed Bihar Congress election campaign committee chairperson Akhilesh Prasad Singh.

Sinha, a two-term BJP MP from Patna Sahib, has often been critical of his party and even made appearances at public functions organised by Opposition leaders. On March 23, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance named Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad as the candidate from Patna Sahib constituency. The same day, Sinha reacted by saying he is “capable of paying back”.

Earlier on Tuesday, Shatrughan Sinha had claimed Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s promise of an income support scheme had rattled his party’s members. He described the announcement as a “masterstroke by the master of situation”. “Some of our prominent people had to rush for a press conference, calling the whole declaration/ announcement ‘chhal kapat’ [bluff],” Sinha tweeted.

On Monday, Gandhi had promised an income support scheme of Rs 72,000 per annum to the poorest 20% families of the country if the Congress comes to power.