BJP drops Sunny Deol, fields ex-diplomat from Amritsar   

BJP fields turncoats in Punjab for Lok Sabha elections

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, March 30: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dropped film star Sunny Deol from the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat in Punjab. The BJP on Saturday released the eighth list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP stays sanguine with turncoats.

The BJP fielded Dinesh Singh ‘Babbu’ from the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat. The BJP also fielded India’s former ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu from the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat. Sandhu is already campaigning in the Amritsar parliamentary constituency. He joined the BJP a few days ago.

The BJP’s first list for Punjab is full of turncoats. Preneet Kaur will contest from the Patiala Lok Sabha seat. She is the wife of former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh. Kaur had also recently joined the BJP. Patiala Lok Sabha seat is known to be the bastion of Captain Amarinder Singh.

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The BJP has also fielded the incumbent Jalandhar Lok Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Rinku. He too had recently joined the BJP. Rinku was with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Ravneet Singh Bittu will contest the Lok Sabha elections from the Ludhiana parliamentary seat. He too had quit Congress a few days ago. Bittu had joined the BJP. He is the grandson of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh who was assassinated during the peak of the militancy in punjab.

Hans Raj Hans will contest from the Faridkot reserved seat. He was previously an MP from West Delhi. He is a popular singer. The BJP is yet to announce a candidate for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat.

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Out of the seven candidates for Punjab, the BJP has fielded five newcomers. The BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) could not clinch the seat adjustment pact for the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP will field candidates for all the 13 Lok Sabha seats.

Deol had shown least interest in politics. He was largely missing from the Lok Sabha. The filmstar was mostly seen in the Lok Sabha when the BJP issued whips to the party MPs. His exit from electoral politics also breaks the link of the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat with filmstars.

Vinod Khanna had previously represented the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat. He had died while being a member of parliament after a prolonged illness.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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