Amritsar: Actor-turned-BJP candidate Sunny Deol filed his nomination papers from Punjab’s Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency on Monday.
Earlier in the day, Sunny Deol, 62, offered prayers at the Golden Temple in Amritsar before leaving for Gurdaspur, 75 km away.
Punjab BJP chief and Rajya Sabha MP Shwait Mailk, Haryana finance minister and party”s election incharge of Punjab Capt Abhimanyu and Akali leader Gurbachan Singh Babehali also accompanied Deol.
In a tweet, veteran actor Dharmendra sought support of the people for the victory of his son Sunny Deol from Gurdaspur seat.
“We seek your support…Support us…it will be your victory. It (victory) will be of brothers of sisters of my Punjab. It (victory) will of India”s beautiful part of Gurdaspur,” Dharmendra tweeted.
Sporting a blue turban and a blue shirt, Deol, who himself is a Sikh, entered the shrine complex with folded hands, accompanied by his supporters. He offered prayers at the ‘Harmandir Sahib’, the sanctum sanctorum.
He also offered prayers at the Durgiana Temple.
Sunny Deol faces tough competition from Congress candidate and sitting MP Sunil Jakhar, who is the Punjab Congress president. Others in the fray from the same constituency are AAP’s Peter Masih and PDA’s Lal Chand.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday met Sunny Deol and posted a photo of the meeting along with a message on Twitter stating that he was impressed with the actor’s passion for a better India.
Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency was earlier represented by actor Vinod Khanna who won from here four times – 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2014 – on a BJP ticket.
Vinod Khanna died in April 2017 while he was still the sitting MP. Following his death, the BJP chose Swarn Singh Salariya, a Mumbai-based millionaire businessman, as the party candidate for the October 2017 by-election, over Kavita Khanna, the widow of Vinod Khanna.
Salariya lost to Congress candidate Sunil Jakhar by over 1.93 lakh votes.
Sunny Deol, who joined BJP on April 23, has already come under electoral crosshairs with party’s rival Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh terming him a “filmi fauji”.
“Sunny Deol is a “filmi fauji”, while I am a “real fauji”, Captain Amarinder Singh had said in Gurdaspur recently.
The actor held his first mega roadshow in Rajasthan’s Barmer on Saturday.
Sunny Deol has starred in blockbuster movies like “Border”, “Betaab”, “Gadar – Ek Prem Katha”, “Ghayal” and many others.
