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New Delhi:

Amid a massive backlash over the BJP fielding him from Asansol Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal, Bhojpuri actor-singer Pawan Singh has said he would not be contesting the election.

“I thank the BJP leadership for trusting me and announcing my name as the candidate from Asansol, but I won’t be able to contest the election for some reason,” he said in a tweet in Hindi this afternoon.

The choice of 38-year-old Singh, a resident of Bihar, for the Bengal seat had sparked a huge row. Many had also pointed to his discography, which has several songs with objectionable references to Bengali women. The backlash on social media did not go unnoticed and the BJP, sources said, anticipated that Mr Singh’s candidature may harm its prospects in Asansol. A decision to drop him was taken and he was informed accordingly, the sources added. Then came the tweet in which the actor-singer said he is pulling out.

The Asansol Lok Sabha seat is currently replaced by Trinamool Congress’s Shatrughan Sinha. Mr Sinha was elected in a 2022 bypoll after singer-politician Babul Supriyo, who won the seat for the BJP in the 2014 and 2019 general elections, switched to the Trinamool.

Soon after the Bhojpuri actor’s post, Trinamool’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said the pullout was a result of the indomitable spirit and people of the people of West Bengal. Party leader Derek O’Brien quipped, “This is Khela Hobe even before the khela begins.”