Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha on Monday expressed gratitude to TMC president Mamata Banerjee for nominating him from Asansol for the Lok Sabha bypoll and rejected the "outsider" tag being attached to him by rivals.

Sinha, who has been a Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha member for two terms each, said "Banerjee holds the future of the country. I will strengthen her hands in expanding 'khela hobe' across the country."

"Khela hobe" (game is on) was the battle cry of Banerjee in the fiercely fought assembly elections in West Bengal last year which the TMC had won in a resounding manner.

"I feel honoured by Mamata Banerjee herself announcing my name as the TMC candidate from Asansol in the Lok Sabha bypoll.

"She is a tried, tested and successful politician who holds the nation's future hope against 'divisive politics' pursued by the government of the day," Sinha told PTI.

Asked whether he has quit the Congress in favour of the West Bengal chief minister, he said, "I will only say I have joined Banerjee in her fight for the communal harmony and welfare of the poor."

After quitting the BJP, Sinha, who had served as minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, joined the Congress and unsuccessfully fought from his native Patna Sahib Lok Sabha constituency in 2019. He was defeated by former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in the last parliamentary election.

The Congress did not give him much responsibility after the 2019 general polls.

The actor-turned politician was lying low. Now with her name being announced by Banerjee for the parliamentary by-election from Asansol, Sinha has again hit the headlines.

"How can anybody call me an 'outsider'? Like my 'janmabhoomi' (birth place) Bihar, Bengal has always been my weakness. I have done a large number of movies including the national award winning film 'Antor Koli Jatra' in Bangla language," he reasoned.

"Moreover, Asansol has a cosmopolitan population where besides my dear Bengali people, citizens from Bihar, Jharkhand and elsewhere are residing there in great numbers. If I am called an 'outsider' in Asansol, will you say the same for the Prime Minister contesting election from Varanasi?" he said.

On his choice of TMC, he said, "One should go in a new and better direction to do something good for the country."

Sinha said notwithstanding being in a different party, he always had a good relationship with Banerjee.

"Being a BJP MP I had participated in her opposition rally at Brigade maidan in Kolkata in 2019. I have always appreciated her dynamic leadership and it will be a privilege for me to work in the party headed by her," Sinha said.

Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha had joined Banerjee's party ahead of the eve of Bengal polls and now Shatrughan Sinha will be with her as part of the TMC's efforts to challenge the BJP in the 2024 general elections.