Apparently preparing his ground for his exit from the Bharatiya Janata Party, a sulking Shatrughan Sinha has showered praise on Congress President Sonia Gandhi [Images] calling her a 'lady of substance' and a 'one-man army'.

"If I praise Madam Gandhi, it is because she is a lady of substance," said Sinha, who once aspired to be the chief minister of Bihar but now has kept away from the party's campaign in the assembly elections in the state.

Sinha had also been attacking the BJP saying it was encouraging criminalisation of politics in Bihar.

"Moreover, she comes from a tremendous background, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi, Madam Indira Gandhi [Images]. She (Sonia) is a great fighter, a great survivor. I call her one man army of the Congress, not one woman, but one man army of the Congress," he told NDTV.