‘Missing’ Sunny Deol annoys BJP cadre in Punjab, Lekhi takes his side

CHANDIGARH:  It has been almost two years since BJP MP Sunny Deol visited Gurdaspur, his constituency. His long absence has been inviting criticism in the political circles, both within and outside the party cadre, as well as the public. However, morale has become lower among the party workers after Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi recently visited Gurdaspur and gave a clean chit to the Bollywood actor over his lack of visibility on the ground.

A senior BJP leader said the MP’s presence is required in every constituency to supervise the completion of the projects that have been started by the Union government. However, Lekhi said that the job of an MP is not to visit the constituency but instead to remain in Delhi to get new projects sanctioned.

Sources say many party leaders feel that this kind of approach for the 2024 general elections will not go well for the BJP, as this time the saffron party will be fighting the elections on its own, instead of in alliance with the SAD. They cite the recent assembly polls, in which BJP candidate Parminder Singh lost his security deposit.

A senior state BJP leader said, “These Bollywood actors are made MPs but they hardly visit their constituencies after being elected. Deol has not come to Gurdaspur for a long time, and even ‘missing’ posters about him were put up by the opposition parties earlier. The same situation arose in Rajasthan when his father, Dharmendra, was elected as MP.’’

The last time Deol visited Gurdaspur was in September 2020, when he met senior officials to discuss the coronavirus pandemic and other issues and also met selected people from among the public. The visit had come six months after his previous visit. He failed to make an appearance even to campaign for BJP candidates in the recent assembly elections and also did not vote in the recent Presidential polls.