Sausar: Famous for shooting from the hip, on as well as off screen, ‘shotgun’ Shatrughan Singh, who is Congress candidate from Patna Sahib recanted from his remark that Mohammad Ali Jinnah was as much part of the Congress pantheon as Gandhi and Nehru.

The veteran actor joined the Congress on April 6 after he finally ended his rebellious stint in the BJP.

Canvassing in Madhya Pradesh (MP) for chief minister Kamal Nath’s son, Sinha had said that Jinnah had a role to play in the freedom struggle, but on Saturday he ate his words. He said said it was a slip of tongue and that he meant to eulogise Maulana Azad and not Jinnah.

Also read: Shotgun shoots himself in the foot: Jinnah as much part of Congress as Gandhi

“What you heard yesterday and which people are discussing and making an issue of it…I want to tell them there is an expression in English ‘slip of tongue’…this is what happened when I was telling about how the Congress is a Grand Old party, a party of nationalists…I wanted to say Maulana Azad, but what came out of my mouth was Mohammad Ali Jinnah…” Sinha said.

“It is these pro-government channels that tried to catch me there as they have nothing else against me,” Sinha added.

Earlier, Sinha had said that Pakistan founder Jinnah belonged to the Congress family along with Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru. 

"This is a Congress family. From Mahatma Gandhi to Sardar Patel to Muhammad Ali Jinnah to Jawaharlal Nehru... It is their party. They had the most important role in the development and freedom of the country. This is the reason why I have come here (in Congress)," Sinha said while addressing a rally at Sausar in Madhya Pradesh’s Chindwara on Friday. 

Jinnah declared August 16 as ‘Direct Action Day’, also known as the Great Calcutta Killings, which led to the killing of almost 10,000 people.  

Sinha in a series of tweets took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Talking about the huge crowd at Prime Minister Modi's Varanasi roadshow, the Congress leader said it is all 'dhanshakti' (money-power). 

Sinha was at Sausar to campaign for Madhya Pradesh’s chief minister Kamal Nath’s son Nakul Nath. Nakul is contesting BJP’s Nathan Shah for the Chindwara seat.