Lok Sabha election: Sunny Deol’s candidature evokes mixed response from locals

BJP’s decision to field cine-star Sunny Deol as ‘parachute’ candidate from Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency for the upcoming general elections has evoked a mixed response from locals.

But , many BJP activists are overjoyed at Deol’s party nomination, as they hope his charm will help win back the Gurdaspur seat that was lost by BJP’s Swarn Salaria to Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar by a huge margin of 1.93 lakh votes in the 2018 Gurdaspur bypoll.

However, former Gurdaspur district bar association president, Pushkar Nanda, reproached the party for giving a ticket to Sunny Deol. He has questioned as to why the party leadership ignored Gurdaspur’s four-time MP Vinod Khanna’s wife Kavita Khanna who maintained her rapport with the people of Gurdaspur even after the senior filmstar’s death in 2017, which had necessitated the Gurdaspur bypoll in 2018. Nanda also said that apart from Kavita Khanna, party leaders such as former Punjab minister Master Mohan Lal could have been considered.

Yog Raj Mahajan, a grocery shop owner at Jail Road, said that Sunny’s candidature has brought cheer among the youth, who are eager to see actors and actresses during the election campaign in Gurdaspur. Mahajan hoped that Sunny will follow in the Khanna’s foot-steps, who became known by the moniker ‘Pullanwala Khanna’ for building large bridges, including the Mukerian bridge across Beas and Kathlore bridge across Ravi river.

Former Gurdaspur district Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Kulbir Singh Sandhu said it wont be a cake walk for Sunny to win the Gurdaspur seat against Congress’s formidable candidate – Sunil Jakhar – who won the seat in a bypoll by a large margin of 1.93 lakh votes. Sandhu also said that of the nine assembly constituencies, seven are already in the Congress kitty while BJP and SAD have one seat each at Sujanpur and Batala respectively.

Sanjiv Kumar, owner of a handloom shop at Jail Road, welcomed the decision saying no other local leader can give a strong fight to the current MP Sunil Jakhar. He also said that people will wait to see if Sunny buys a house in Gurdaspur as a measure of commitment to his constituency.

Meanwhile Gurdaspur district BJP president BK Mittal likened Sunny to a hurricane and said Sunil Jakhar would not be ale to face him. He said Sunny is expected to push forward the development initiated by Vinod Khanna for Gurdaspur.

However, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, minister for cooperation and jails, and MLA from Dera Baba Nanak, said that Sunny will be packed off to Mumbai by the locals on the evening of May 19, the polling date for Gurdaspur, because Sunil Jakhar has made a place for himself in the hearts of the locals with his tireless endeavour to develop his constituency.