I’m not here for vendetta politics: Sunny Deol
Gurdaspur: The SAD-BJP candidate from Punjab’s Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat, Sunny Deol, on Sunday said he was not here for vendetta politics but to usher in multi-faceted development of the constituency.
After paying obeisance at Gurdwara Ghallughara Sahib in Chamb in the Qadian assembly segment of the constituency, the actor-turned-politician told reporters that he would not give any importance to settling scores but to developmental issues.
Amid blistering heat, Deol carried out a road show for the third consecutive day. Before reaching the gurdwara, he held door-to-door campaigning in Nawan village and appealed the people to vote for him.
Thereafter, with hundreds of motorcyclists he reached Gannopur village where he was given a warm welcome.
Addressing people at different places, he promised voters people-centric development.
At village Chak Sharif, he said: “I am a son of Punjab and have come to serve the state and its people.”
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) former state president Kamal Sharma and local Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BJP leaders accompanied him.
The BJP-Akali Dal has fielded the 62-year-old from Gurdaspur, the seat represented four times by yesteryear actor Vinod Khanna, who died in April 2017 due to cancer.
Khanna, a native of Punjab, was a sitting MP at the time of his death.
Son of veteran actor Dharmendra, Deol, who does not have any direct connection with Gurdaspur city — though his father hails from Sahnewal town near Punjab’s industrial town Ludhiana, has a strong Punjabi appeal. He is a Jat Sikh.
Deol, whose main priority is creating employment for the youth, entered the Hindi film industry with “Betaab” in 1983 and his best hits include “Border”, “Damini” and “Gadar: Ek Prem Katha”.
Gurdaspur lies in the north of Punjab, sharing an international border with Pakistan and the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir. The area is not as developed as other parts of the state.
Deol, who is not missing an opportunity to pay obeisance to Sikh shrines and Hindu temples during his campaigning, is pitted against Congress state unit president Sunil Jakhar, who won the October 2017 by-election with a margin of 1.92 lakh votes.
The by-poll was necessitated with Vinod Khanna’s death.
The Gurdaspur constituency, with 14,68,972 voters, including 72,6363 women, has nine assembly constituencies. It has a high number of serving and retired defence personnel and the BJP is trying to woo them by using the ‘fauji’ image of Deol.