Upset over Sunny Deol's nomination from Gurdaspur, Kavita Khanna may contest as Independent

Upset with the BJP’s decision of fielding Bollywood actor Sunny Deol from the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat, ticket aspirant Kavita Khanna, wife of late Union minister and four-time MP Vinod Khanna, is likely to contest from the constituency as an Independent candidate.

According to sources, Kavita Khanna will address the media at 11:30 am on Saturday, where she is expected to make a big announcement.

Responding to Deol’s candidature from the Gurdaspur seat, Kavita on Wednesday said she felt “betrayed” and was weighing all her options, including contesting as an Independent.  

“I feel betrayed. I also feel that the wishes of people who wanted me as their MP were ignored. I am weighing all my options. I have not decided anything (yet). I have not taken any decision on any issue,” she said.

Hopeful of getting a BJP ticket for Lok Sabha polls, Kavita had been meeting public and party workers in Gurdaspur for the past several weeks.

At a rally in Gurdaspur in January this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recalled the efforts of Vinod Khanna for developing the area.

Currently, the Gurdaspur constituency is represented by Congress MP Sunil Jakhar who won the seat in the 2017 bypoll, which was necessitated after the death of Vinod Khanna in April that year.

Jakhar had defeated BJP candidate Swaran Salaria by a whopping margin of 1,93,219 votes.

Kavita was among the frontrunners for the BJP ticket during the 2017 by-poll, but the party chose businessman Salaria over her.

Vinod Khanna had won the seat in 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2014. He was popularly known as "sardar of bridges" for connecting remote villages in his constituency.

(With PTI inputs)