Voters of the border constituencies in Punjab were treated to a star show before the sun set over campaign for 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The political parties had left the last day of campaign to fill whatever little gaps they could on the last day of electioneering.
The evergreen dream girl, Hema Malini, toured Bhatinda constituency on Thursday where Harsimrat Kaur Badal, fellow NDA candidate and the Union minister for food processing is sweating it out. The two women have bonded in Parliament, and if sources are to be believed, it was this camaraderie that made Hema decide to make the trip to Bhatinda. “Of course, Hemaji would like to do everything she can to ensure that Prime Minister Narendra Modi continues to be the prime minister for a second term. That is the prime reason,” a party leader in the capital said, making light of their personal friendship as being the reason that took Hema to Bhatinda. Badal is from the Shiromani Akali Dal, a steadfast ally of the BJP.
As it was not a planned visit, there was no rally, but a roadshow along with Badal in Mansa and Mode Mandi. The roadshow stopped at places where crowds thronged to have a glimpse of her or party workers gathered to “receive” her. She even addressed the crowds at some places, urging people to ensure Modi becomes prime minister again.
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Gurdaspur's star candidate Sunny Deol did a similar road show in the company of Hardeep Singh Puri, former diplomat and the minister of state for housing and urban affairs. Puri is making his maiden effort to enter the Lok Sabha from Amritsar, as the BJP candidate. Just like in Gurdaspur, Deol kept mum on issues and politics, instead uttered his famous dialogues from Damini, Gadar: Ek Prem Katha and Border, even as loudspeakers around blared the hit songs that had featured him.
In Gurdaspur, the star was Navjot Singh Sidhu, who was supposed to be in Patna, campaigning for Shatrughan Sinha. According to reports, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was instrumental in changing his campaign programme, suggesting that the Congress candidate Sunil Jakhar needed star power in the constituency that he represents. He won it in a byelection after Bollywood actor-turned- four-time MP Vinod Khanna passed away.
The BJP is facing Congress in three out of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab. In the remaining 10, the grand old party is locked in a direct contest with its traditional political foe, the Akali Dal. AAP has also fielded candidates in many constituencies.
Addressing his end-of-campaign press conference on Friday, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has said while he was confident of winning all the seats, he would own the responsibility for the results.
