BJP releases 8th list of candidates for LS polls; Sunny Deol dropped
The BJP has fielded Preneet Kaur from Patiala Lok Sabha seat, Ravneet Singh Bittu will contest from Ludhiana.
Veteran actor and former BJP lawmaker Dharmendra on Sunday said that he would not have allowed his son Sunny Deol to contest the Lok Sabha elections had he known that Congress’s Sunil Jakhar was his opponent from Punjab’s Gurdaspur.
“Balram Jakhar was like my brother. Had I known his son Sunil Jakhar was contesting from Gurdaspur, I would have not allowed Sunny (to contest against him),” the actor-turned-politician was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Sunny Deol was named the BJP candidate from Gurdaspur against Sunil Jakhar after he joined the party on April 23.
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He is the third Deol to join politics and the BJP after Dharmendra and his wife Hema Malini.
Speaking on his political debut, Deol had said just like his father Dharmendra worked with late former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he will work with and support Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has inspired him to take the political plunge.
Earlier, Sunil Jakhar had taken a dig at Deol, saying while he might be adept at singing and dancing around and pulling pumps out of the soil, he did not know anything about Gurdaspur or the problems of its people.
Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had also said that Sunny Deol was fighting the election under pressure from BJP as he owed several crores of rupees to different banks.
Punjab will vote in a single phase, on May 19, the last day of the seven-phased national election.
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