Sunny Deol BJP candidate from Amritsar? Speculations rife
What's the story
On Friday, BJP President Amit Shah met Bollywood actor Sunny Deol in Pune and sparked off speculations that the latter may be fielded from Amritsar, Punjab. The meeting didn't last longer than five minutes but reports claimed Shah tried to convince Deol for the political plunge. However, Deol refuted the rumors and said, "I just met him and we took a photograph, that's it."
Seat-sharing
In SAD-BJP tie up, saffron party got three seats
Punjab has 13 parliamentary seats and elections will be held in the state in a single phase, i.e., on May 19. BJP has forged an alliance with Shiromani Akali Dal for the polls. As part of the arrangement, SAD will field candidates from 10 Lok Sabha seats and BJP from three. The three seats which fell into BJP's lap are Amritsar, Gurdaspur, and Hoshiarpur.
Amritsar
Fielding Jaitley instead of Sidhu cost BJP in 2009
Now, the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat is dear to BJP. In 2004 and 2009, cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu won from there on a BJP ticket. But in 2014, BJP overlooked him and fielded Arun Jaitley from there. Jaitley's opponent was Captain Amarinder Singh and he lost. Before Punjab assembly polls, Sidhu switched to Congress. Snatching Amritsar from Sidhu obviously cost BJP.
Contest
Congress is relying on sitting MP again
After Captain Singh became Punjab's CM, by-polls were held in Amritsar wherein Congress' Gurjeet Singh Aujla defeated BJP's Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina. This time too Congress fielded Aujla and he said he was ready to take on Deol if BJP gave him a ticket. "There is no use electing someone who doesn't live in Punjab," he told reporters on Saturday.
Quote
People will tell who is hero, said Aujla
"Let people tell who is their hero and son of the soil. During the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Amritsar taught BJP's Arun Jaitley a lesson. Even this time, whosoever is BJP's candidate will have to face a severe defeat," Aujla said.
Details
Separately, Vinod Khanna's wife may get ticket from Gurdaspur
For Amritsar seat, BJP was also contemplating actress Poonam Dhillon. Meanwhile, the Gurdaspur seat will reportedly go to late actor Vinod Khanna's wife Kavita or their son Akshaye. If Deol finally joins BJP, the party will get a major boost. Notably, Deol's father Dharmendra went to Mathura to campaign for his wife Hema Malini. The legendary actress is a sitting MP from there.