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Ravi Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service
Gurdaspur, March 22
Kavita Khanna and actor Akshaye Khanna, wife and son of former MP Vinod Khanna, remain frontrunners even as many an eyebrow was raised following the exclusion of Mumbai-based businessman Swaran Salaria by the BJP state election committee (SEC) in its list of probable candidates for the Gurdaspur parliamentary seat.
The list has been forwarded to the central election committee (CEC) headed by Amit Shah for the final decision.
The SEC has also recommended former Cabinet minister Master Mohan Lal, party state vice-president Narendra Parmar and former state president and Pathankot MLA Ashwani Sharma. Punjab party chief Shwait Malik and Punjab incharge Capt Abhimanyu were among those present when the SEC shortlisted the names.
Salaria’s omission has come as a surprise for political observers. He had financed Narendra Modi’s January 3 rally in Gurdaspur and it was expected that even if he did not get the nomination, he would at least remain in the fray till the last moment. In the 2014 elections, the CEC was forced to put on hold the name of its candidate from the Gurdaspur seat because of pressure exerted on it by senior leaders and yoga leader Ramdev to name Salaria as the nominee. So much so, of all seats the BJP contested from, nomination from Gurdaspur was the last one to be announced. The party chose Vinod Khanna who defeated Partap Singh Bajwa to be elected for the fourth time.
In the 2017 bypoll, Salaria was again in contention. While he had the backing of Ramdev, Kavita Khanna was supported by spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. This time, too, she has his backing. Insiders claim that ever since the Supreme Court nominated him as one of the three mediators to solve the Ayodhya issue, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has become very influential in BJP circles.
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