'It is people, their support and strength that made him a Bahubali.'
'I am proud of my father, who is innocent and wrongly framed.'
Shivani Shukla is the daughter of the once dreaded Bahubali Munna Shukla. Her mother Annu Shukla is also a former MLA.
Shivani is the Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate from the Lalganj assembly constituency in Vaishali district, a stronghold of her parents for 25 years.
Shivani, 29, did her schooling at the Delhi Public School in New Delhi, has an LLB degree from the Alliance University in Bengaluru and has an LLM from Leeds University in the United Kingdom.
"If I get a chance to represent the people of Lalganj, I will not disappoint them and try to fill the gap between neta and janta by visiting and meeting them at least once a year," Shivani tells Rediff Senior Contributor M I Khan.
Are you contesting the assembly polls to take forward your jailed Bahubali father Munna Shukla's legacy?
I never thought I would contest the polls. It is something that happened without any plan, it is like an accident that brought me in the fray.
Initially, I was not interested in politics, but the situation forced me to accept this new challenge.
I quit my job at top law firm in Delhi to help my mother strengthen her hands in politics.
Do you want to carry forward the legacy of your father Munna Shukla, who was convicted by the Supreme Court last year in the Bihar minister Brij Bihari Prasad murder case and is currently serving a prison sentence?
Look, it is people, their support and strength that made him a Bahubali.
As I am his daughter and he is my father, the legacy come naturally. I am proud of my father, who is innocent and wrongly framed.
Last month I met my father after a long time. I really miss him, his absence is something I feel every moment.
My father won the Lalganj seat thrice, my mother won the seat twice, it happened with the support of people.
Politics in Bihar is rustic and tough. How you will you cope with it?
My roots are in the lush green farm lands, narrow dusty lanes of villages and crowded streets of towns and roads.
When people love you, support you and bless you, all this gives you inner confidence and energises you from within to face anything.
What will you do if you win the polls?
I will open a government run education consultancy, the first of its kind here for students and youth to get free of cost help to excel in life.
Your rivals are targeting you for contesting as a candidate of the RJD that symbolises the dark days of 'Jungle Raj'.
My rivals have nothing to talk about, no issues, no future plans. They have only been spreading misinformation. In recent days they have maintained a silence on daylight murders, rapes, loot and extortion cases. Is this not 'Jungle Raj'?
If there is a rule of law as claimed by NDA leaders, why was a well known worker of a political party shot and crushed by an SUV during the election campaign?
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff
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