Cine star Vinod Khanna enters Punjab electoral battle

Gurdaspur, Jan 29: Cine actor-turned-politician Vinod Khanna today became the first Bollywood star to enter the electoral battlefield for the coming assembly polls in Punjab.

Mr Khanna, a three-time BJP MP from Gurdaspur arrived late last night and was up early morning to meet party leaders of the district. He later addressed an election rally with Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Parkash Singh Badal to solicit support for the SAD-BJP candidates.

Talking to UNI, Mr Khanna said he would remain in the state till the day of the polling, that is February 13. The SAD-BJP will win the assembly polls in Punjab as the Congress government had failed to live upto the aspirations of the people and had not fulfilled its promises made in 2002,'' he added.

Besides campaigning for the SAD-BJP candidates in the Gurdaspur Parliamentary constituency, Mr Khanna will also campaign in other parts of the state. He will also extensively campaign for his party colleague Navjot Singh Sidhu, the BJP candidate for the Amritsar Parliamentary by-election.

Mr Khanna, who has won the last three Lok Sabha polls from Gurdaspur is quite popular in his constituency as he is credited with having undertaken a number of development works.

Besides Mr Khanna the film stars who are likely to enter the electoral arena for the SAD-BJP in Punjab are Dharmendra, Dara Singh and Hema Malini besides television star Smriti Irani.

UNI