New Delhi, Jan 08: Bollywood heartthrob Sanjay ‘Munnabhai’ Dutt was on Thursday named as Samajwadi Party’s nominee for contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from the prestigious Lucknow constituency.

The party took the decision to field the 49-year-old superstar at its central parliamentary board meeting held here today.

SP general secretary Amar Singh announced the decision to field 26 other candidates, including party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, from Mainpuri.

Reacting to the decision, Sanjay's sister and Congress MP Priya Dutt said in Mumbai that "he (Sanjay) has a desire to serve people and I think the best platform is politics. This is the choice he has made and I wish him all the best."

Sanjay's father the late Sunil Dutt, who was also a major star in Hindi films during 60s and 70s, was a five-time Congress MP while his sister Priya was elected to the Lok Sabha on a Congress ticket in a bye-election after Dutt's death. In 1980, Sanjay's mother Nargis Dutt, a renowned actress, was nominated to Rajya Sabha.

While Sunil Dutt and Priya entered Lok Sabha on Congress tickets, Sanjay will contest as a SP candidate, a key ally of Congress.

Since Sanjay was convicted under the Arms Act and is out on bail, the SP would seek the permission of the Supreme Court, where the matter is pending, and the Election Commission to field him.

Apparently referring to BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, Amar Singh said, "Like a BJP MP who is a known cricketer and was allowed to contest despite being convicted, we too will try our best to field Dutt...if we fail, he would certainly be our star campaigner.

"Since we are an ally of Congress, and Sanjay Dutt's sister Priya is a Congress MP, we hope Congress will be happy that we are fielding Dutt," Singh said.

He hoped that senior Congress leaders, including Law minister Hansraj Bhardwaj and Ahmed Patel, would "bless" Dutt.

The SP leader claimed Dutt was willing to contest the elections.

The Lucknow seat is represented by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. But with the veteran BJP leader not willing to contest the elections, several parties are trying to wrest the seat from the saffron party.

The ruling Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh has already announced former Union Minister in the Manmohan Singh government Akhilesh Das as its candidate.

BJP says it will soon decide on its candidate. Whether Congress will field someone against Dutt remains to be seen.

Asked about Sanjay being named SP candidate from Lucknow, AICC General Secretary in-charge of UP Digvijay Singh said, "Sanjay and his family are extremely close to the Congress and the issue could be resolved through discussions".

The first candidate's list of SP includes Yadav from Mainpuri and actor Sanjay Dutt from Lucknow.

Congress showed signs of unease over the "unilateral" move of its ally with which seat sharing talks are still on and indicated that it could put up candidates in Lucknow as well as Rampur where SP fielded Jaya Prada.

"Possibilities are always there to put up a candidate at Lucknow. It is an undecided seat. At Rampur, we have a strong claim and a candidate," AICC General Secretary in-charge of UP Digvijay Singh told reporters here soon after SP released its list.

Asked whether Samajwadi Party's move in the midst of seat sharing talks with Congress was an embarrassment for the party, Singh remarked, "even if it is so, I will not say so".

While SP declared sitting MP Jaya Prada from the Rampur parliamentary constituency, Congress wants the seat for its former MP Begum Noor Bano.

On film star Sanjay Dutt being the SP candidate from the Lucknow seat, presently represented by former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Singh said, "Sanjay and his family are extremely close to the Congress and the issue could be resolved through discussions".

Singh said the seats which the SP has declared are not "contentious seats", except Rampur, where he said the party would like to contest.

The Congress leader admitted that there are 6-7 contentious seats in UP and talks are still on with the SP to stitch together an alliance.

Bureau Report