Click to play videoMumbai: Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt has confirmed that he will be contesting the next Lok Sabha elections as a Samajwadi Party candidate from Lucknow.
Addressing a press conference in Mumbai on Friday night with Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh, Sanajy Dutt said, "I will fight on Samajwadi Party ticket. I have taken legal advice and will go for suspension of my conviction."
"I am contesting from Lucknow. The Samajwadi Party and Congress are in an alliance," Dutt said and added that he agreed to contest elections on the "order of elder brother Amar Singh".
"Judge Kode did not find me guilty under TADA. I was convicted under the Arms Act," Dutt said trying to justify that he was not a tainted man.
Dutt has been convicted under the Arms Act in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case for possessing an AK-56 rifle for his "self-defence". He was given a six-year prison term under the Arms Act by TADA court judge PD Kode.
Sanjay cited cricketer-turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu's case, saying "if Sidhu, who faced murder charge, can contest, why can't I"?
He also said he has forgiven sister and Congress MP Priya Dutt.
"Priya has denied having said anything against me. Even if she has said something against me, I forgive her as she is my kid sister," he said.
Amar Singh clarified that the Bollywood star will be the party candidate and not Dutt's wife Manyata.
"First invitation to Sanjay Dutt to contest elections has come from Samajwadi Party. Sunil Dutt's (Sanjay Dutt's father) first job was in Lucknow so Sanjay chose Lucknow as constituency," Amar Singh said.
"There is no legal hurdle in Sanjay's contesting the polls," Singh said.
"Even if there are some issues, they will be sorted out. The court has so far not made any observations," he said
Amar Singh also urges that Congress President Sonia gandhi and Rahul Gandhi should support to Sanjay Dutt as Samajwadi Party candidate from Lucknow.
Amar Singh, however, also said that Sanjay's first priority will be films and politics is only overtime for him
The Samajwadi Party announced Dutt's candidature from Lucknow on January 8.
On January 15, the actor’s politician sister, Priya Dutt, had said that neither Dutt nor (his wife) Manyata had confirmed that he is contesting the election. Priya also claimed she had been kept in the dark about his decision to join politics.
"Just like their marriage, I came to know about it through the media. We haven’t had any discussion on this in the family but there is no family feud. If the need arises, we as a family will support Sanjay," she had said.
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