Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha on Tuesday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public speeches, saying they “lack content and depth” and have become “highly repetitive and irritating”. Sinha referred to Modi as “honourable outgoing Sirji”.

Sinha, a rebel Bharatiya Janata Party leader, is expected to formally join the Congress on April 6.

“Honble outgoing Sirji. Why are you wasting so much money on different channels and on the paid and choreographed crowd who chant your name at any given time - during, before and after your speeches on the signal of the conductors,” the Patna Sahib legislator said on Twitter.

Sinha said he remained a “well wisher” of Modi despite his “misuse of Electronic Voting Machines and his ignorance”. “Your rhetorics/speeches lack content and depth these days and have gone to the extent of becoming highly repetitive and irritating,” he added.

Sinha said Modi should not “hire or go for paid channels”, but have a genuine interaction with journalists like Raveesh Kumar and Prasun Vajpayee. “Go for the Press who are not sycophants & can’t be silenced by money and muscle power - instead of going for a conducted tour, well rehearsed, well practiced, choreographed slogan chanting and with people of press of the choice of the One man show & Two men army,” he said.

The seven-phased Lok Sabha elections will be held between April 11 and May 19, with the votes being counted on May 23. Bihar, which has 40 parliamentary constituencies, will vote in all seven phases on April 11, April 18, April 23, April 29, May 6, May 12 and May 19.