https://www.dailyo.in/humour/sunny-deol-gurpreet-palheri-bjp-gurdaspur-mp-sunny-s-proxy-31334

&lt;p id='p_1'&gt;When Sunny Deol &amp;lsquo;&lt;em&gt;nikla, gaddi leke&lt;/em&gt;&amp;rsquo;, he went straight to winning a seat for the BJP from Gurdaspur. His opponent, Sunil Jakhar of the Congress, had no special hand-pump-uprooting skills &amp;mdash; which obviously led to his enormous defeat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_2'&gt;&lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;a style='color: #3366ff;' href='https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/gurdaspur-constituency-lok-sabha-election-result-2019-sunny-deol-leads-sunil-jakhar-trails/articleshow/69463759.cms' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'&gt;Almost a lakh less than the man with a&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;dhai kilo ka haath&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_3'&gt;The oath-taking at Parliament, however, was an eye-opener for the man who has enough strength in his sinews to crack someone&amp;rsquo;s skull &amp;mdash; he couldn't help stumbling over his words though, when he ended up saying &amp;ldquo;I will withhold&amp;rdquo; instead of 'uphold' in the context of the sovereignty of the country.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_4'&gt;&lt;iframe src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/KMHgVWsi2i0' width='690' height='388' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen='true'&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_5'&gt;Quite possibly, the result of that is him now appointing one Gurpreet Palheri as his representative to attend meetings and follow important matters pertaining to his Parliamentary constituency with concerned authorities.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_6'&gt;Now, wait a minute, detractors&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash; stop trolling Sunny Deol to high heavens and back! This is by far the smartest thing any politician has ever done &amp;mdash; handing over his responsibility to an abler shoulder. (God knows Rahul Gandhi needed a Gurpreet Palheri!)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_7'&gt;But, more importantly, Sunny&amp;rsquo;s proxy representation is actually &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; most apt depiction of today&amp;rsquo;s youth.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_8'&gt;Because that&amp;rsquo;s exactly what we all want in our lives.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'&gt;&lt;p id='p_9' dir='ltr' lang='en'&gt;Gurdaspur(Punjab) MP Sunny Deol: I appoint Gurpreet Palheri as my representative to attend meetings and follow important matters pertaining to my parliamentary constituency with concerned authorities. (file pic) &lt;a href='https://t.co/175TiMFOmw'&gt;pic.twitter.com/175TiMFOmw&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; ANI (@ANI) &lt;a href='https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1145708931987247106?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'&gt;July 1, 2019&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p id='p_10'&gt;&lt;script charset='utf-8' src='https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js'&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_11'&gt;Look, adulting is hard, and the fact is, we are totally unprepared&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash; we were never taught how to do our taxes, budget our expenses, do the 500 other things we are expected to do at the job that aren't even mentioned in our job descriptions. We were never taught how to claim credit for the one thing we&amp;rsquo;ve not done, yet, every appraisal season, we&amp;rsquo;re expected to ace on that on a form as long as the runtime of an Ashutosh Gowarikar film.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_12'&gt;Yes, we are expected to do all that.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_13'&gt;And, in the immortal words of Hansa, just at this much, &amp;ldquo;&lt;em&gt;Aae main toh thak gayi bhaisaab!&lt;/em&gt;&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img title='dff0n0vw4aakfqp_070219031900.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201907/dff0n0vw4aakfqp_070219031900.jpg' alt='dff0n0vw4aakfqp_070219031900.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Our thoughts exactly. (Photo: Twitter)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_15'&gt;Which is why we want exactly the arrangement that Sunny Deol now has &amp;mdash; we want a representative to do everything for us.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_16'&gt;We want someone to wake up in place of us in the morning (while we roll over), dress and brave peak office-hour traffic to get to work on time. Then, we want someone else to deal with all the office drama as we chill at home instead.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_17'&gt;Heck, we want someone else to tell our office crush how we&amp;rsquo;re crushing over them in place of us (rejection can be brutal, we&amp;rsquo;re not risking it, you see). At home, we want someone else to cook, clean, wash, sweep and tidy up the place for us &amp;mdash; for those who are picturing a house help, please picture someone else alongside who can deliver the instructions too, so you don&amp;rsquo;t have to lift a finger.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_18'&gt;&lt;iframe class='giphy-embed' src='https://giphy.com/embed/1nR6fu93A17vWZbO9c' width='480' height='320' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen='true'&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_19'&gt;&lt;a href='https://giphy.com/gifs/ralph-80s-cartoons-richie-rich-1nR6fu93A17vWZbO9c'&gt;via GIPHY&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_20'&gt;It's not just work either. We want someone else to party with our friends in place of us, so we don&amp;rsquo;t have to deal with the nasty hangover the morning after. And while they&amp;rsquo;re at it, we want them to keep in touch with all our friends and extended family as well &amp;mdash; that includes staying active on all the hundreds of WhatsApp groups we&amp;rsquo;ve been added onto.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_21'&gt;Clearly, Sunny Deol has identified something about today's youth that no one else had managed thus &amp;mdash; that we are lazy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_22'&gt;And so is he.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_23'&gt;And in the rat race that is this life, a lazy&amp;nbsp;person has to stick up for another lazy person. Sunny Deol has done exactly that &amp;mdash; he's showed us an alternative.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_24'&gt;If you hear the youth unitedly shouting now, '&lt;em&gt;Hamara neta kaisa ho? Sunny Deol jaisa ho!&lt;/em&gt;', you should know he deserves all the praise.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_25'&gt;(That's for him only, by the way, and not for Gurpreet Palheri).&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_26'&gt;&lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a style='color: #3366ff;' href='https://www.dailyo.in/politics/nusrat-jahan-mimi-chakraborty-parliament-sexism-hindutva/story/1/31255.html'&gt;Also read:&amp;nbsp;How Nusrat and Mimi finally fit into Parliament: Sindoor. Bindi. Chooda. Sari. And salwar-suit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_27'&gt;&lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;iframe src='https://www.dailyo.in/embed/e7a3e7' width='690' height='388' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' allowfullscreen='true'&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Sunny Deol has discovered the secret that characterises you, me and all of India's youth. He's also found a brilliant way out. For him and for us. Full applause, with dhai kilo ka haath!

Sunny Deol's Junior Artist: The star-neta's 'proxy representation' is exactly what we need to be a proper adult!

https://www.dailyo.in/election/sunny-deol-sunil-jakhar-gurdaspur-bjp-balakot-30723

&lt;p id='p_1'&gt;A few days into his curious campaign for the Lok Sabha poll in the border constituency of Gurdaspur, the film actor-struggling-to-fit-in-as-a-politician, Sunny Deol, appeared at a complete loss for words when a young TV reporter asked him whether the Balakot air strikes would benefit the Bharatiya Janata Party. &amp;ldquo;I don&amp;rsquo;t know about such things. I am here to win and to strengthen Modi-Ji,&amp;rdquo; was his incredulous response.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_2'&gt;The 59-year old Deol, who to his credit has delivered a few Bollywood blockbusters in his time, believe it or not, had no inkling that the Indian Air Force had struck a terror camp deep inside Pakistan in retaliation for the dastardly car bombing in Pulwama on February 14.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_3'&gt;&lt;img title='822531-dharmendra_051619032308.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201905/822531-dharmendra_051619032308.jpg' alt='822531-dharmendra_051619032308.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Veteran actor Dharmendra landed in Gurdaspur, Punjab to campaign for his 59-year-old son, Sunny Deol. (Photo: PTI)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_4'&gt;He is simply not cut out for politics, Deol&amp;rsquo;s father, film star Dharmendra, said in Gurdaspur even as he set out in support of his older boy. &amp;ldquo;I told Sunny that politics is a very difficult thing,&amp;rdquo; he said, evidently speaking from the experience of his own brief foray when he contested the 2004 Lok Sabha election for the BJP from Bikaner in Rajasthan.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_5'&gt;Sunny is, to say the least, self-admittedly clueless regarding local issues and problems in Gurdaspur, the constituency he seeks to speak for. So, while he himself spurned rival Congress nominee Sunil Jakhar&amp;rsquo;s invitation to a debate on local issues, Dharmendra rather candidly let slip what the real reason for Sunny&amp;rsquo;s bashfulness was: &amp;ldquo;Sunny cannot debate. Sunil has [political] experience and his father was a politician too. We have not come here to hold debates,&amp;rdquo; the father said on May 11.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_6'&gt;&lt;img title='sunny-deol-tfnmqmeic_051619032632.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201905/sunny-deol-tfnmqmeic_051619032632.jpg' alt='sunny-deol-tfnmqmeic_051619032632.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sunny Deol is pitted against Congress candidate and sitting MP Sunil Jakhar from Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat. (Photo: PTI)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_7'&gt;So, instead of addressing issues, the actor is relying on his filmy avatar. His always brief campaign speeches are generously laced with dialogues from his movies.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_8'&gt;The crowds love it. But will it be enough to bring them out of their homes and press the button next to the saffron lotus when Punjab goes to the polls on May 19? It isn&amp;rsquo;t quite evident as yet.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_9'&gt;Meanwhile, Dharmendra has been singing a curious tune since he arrived in Gurdaspur. Besides claiming to have &amp;ldquo;great respect&amp;rdquo; for chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh&amp;rsquo;s ancestors, who &amp;ldquo;were the first to surrender the erstwhile Patiala state to Sardar Patel,&amp;rdquo; he claimed he was kept in the dark about the fact that Sunny would be contesting against Sunil Jakhar, who is &amp;ldquo;the son of Balram Jakhar with whom I had great relations.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_10'&gt;&lt;img title='764611-jakhar-sunil-_051619033018.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201905/764611-jakhar-sunil-_051619033018.jpg' alt='764611-jakhar-sunil-_051619033018.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dharmendra said that he would have never permitted his son Sunny to contest if he knew the opponent was Sunil Jakhar. (Photo: PTI)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_11'&gt;The veteran actor said he would have never permitted his son to contest if he knew the opponent was Sunil Jakhar. &amp;ldquo;He (Sunil) is like my son,&amp;rdquo; he said. It&amp;rsquo;s all been cause for great amusement in the Congress camp.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_12'&gt;In the end, addressing electors on Saturday, Captain had this to say: &amp;ldquo;Get your selfies and say bye-bye to him (Deol).&amp;rdquo; But only the verdict on May 23 will determine whether Sunny&amp;rsquo;s Punjab sojourn was more than just a photo opportunity.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_13'&gt;(Courtesy of &lt;em&gt;Mail Today&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_14'&gt;&lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;a style='color: #3366ff;' title='Why Khali campaigning in Kolkata is too much for a faint-hearted Bengali!' href='https://www.dailyo.in/humour/lok-sabha-elections-2019-why-khali-campaigning-in-kolkata-is-too-much-for-a-faint-hearted-bengali/story/1/30480.html' target='_blank'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Also read:&amp;nbsp;Why Khali campaigning in Kolkata is too much for a faint-hearted Bengali!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_15'&gt;&lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;iframe src='https://www.dailyo.in/embed/177f17' width='690' height='388' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' allowfullscreen='true'&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Only the verdict on May 23 will determine whether actor Sunny Deol’s Punjab sojourn was more than just a photo opportunity.

Not so ‘Sunny’ for Deol in Gurdaspur

https://www.dailyo.in/election/phase-7-lok-sabha-polls-lok-sabha-2019-final-day-of-polling-gurdaspur-hamirpur-jadavpur-patna-sahib-varanasi-30718

&lt;p id='p_1'&gt;As we enter the last phase of elections on May 19, there are many constituencies which will be at the centre of everyone&amp;rsquo;s gaze.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_2'&gt;Let&amp;rsquo;s take a look at&amp;nbsp;key&amp;nbsp;contests which we need to watch out for in Lok Sabha 2019 Phase Seven polls:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_3'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1.). Gurdaspur, Punjab&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_4'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sunny Deol vs Sunil Kumar Jakhar&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_5'&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img title='gurdaspur_051619115948.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201905/gurdaspur_051619115948.jpg' alt='gurdaspur_051619115948.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Gurdaspur: With Sunny Deol pumping it up, this is&amp;nbsp;a fight between star&amp;nbsp;power and local issues. (Source: PTI)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_6'&gt;Ever since Sunny Deol has filed nominations, he has been roaming around Gurdaspur&amp;nbsp;holding a dummy pump in his hand. But this face-off&amp;nbsp;is certainly real and not reel-life, as Sunny should know. He has been campaigning in roadshows and has conspicuously&amp;nbsp;avoided speaking on local issues. His counterpart, on the other hand, has been speaking only of ground-level issues concerning the constituency. In 2017, Jakhar won the by election, defeating his BJP rival by nearly 2 lakh votes. Jakhar had even invited Deol for an open debate &amp;mdash; which Deol has studiously avoided.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_7'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2.). Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_8'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Anurag Thakur vs Ram Lal Thakur&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_9'&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img title='hamirpur_051619120102.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201905/hamirpur_051619120102.jpg' alt='hamirpur_051619120102.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hamirpur: Has the Congress gained ground in the hilly seat, at the cost of the BJP? (Source: PTI, ANI)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_10'&gt;The BJP has fielded their sitting MP from Hamirpur, Anurag Thakur, who is batting on the&amp;nbsp;front foot with his strong speeches against the Congress. The Congress has fielded the sixty seven-year-old Ram Lal Thakur, who was first elected as an MLA in 1985 and has been a minister in the Himachal government thrice. The Congress leader was earlier pushed into the Lok Sabha contest from Hamirpur in 2004, and then, in 2007 Lok Sabha by-poll.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_11'&gt;Hamirpur constituency, which the Congress has won only once in the past 30 years, has witnessed aggressive campaigning by both the Congress and the&amp;nbsp;BJP this year. The constituency has been represented by the&amp;nbsp;BJP since 1989, barring one election of 1996.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_12'&gt;Anurag Thakur won his first election from this constituency in 2008 as the seat fell vacant with his father, Prem Kumar Dhumal, being sworn in as chief minister of Himachal Pradesh. During the 2009 elections, Thakur won quite comfortably. Then came the Modi wave in 2014 &amp;mdash;&amp;nbsp;where he won the seat without any hindrance. This time around, the fight is set to be close as the&amp;nbsp;Congress is reportedly&amp;nbsp;gaining lost ground and if they manage to pull off a win in Hamirpur, it will be a major upset.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_13'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3.). Jadavpur, West Bengal&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_14'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mimi Chakraborty vs Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_15'&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img title='jadavpur_051619120219.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201905/jadavpur_051619120219.jpg' alt='jadavpur_051619120219.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jadavpur: Is this going to be about&amp;nbsp;glamour versus ideology?&amp;nbsp;(Source: PTI)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_16'&gt;The Jadavpur Parliamentary constituency comprises of seven assembly constituencies, and is a mix of urban and rural, rich and poor people.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_17'&gt;The urban part comprises of Jadavpur and Tollygunge assembly constituencies, which have traditionally voted for the Left. The seat once dominated by the Left was captured by the Trinamool Congress for the first time in the&amp;nbsp;1998 Lok Sabha election. Trinamool&amp;rsquo;s Krishna Bose won against the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Malini Bhattacharya by more than 98,000 votes. Mamata Banerjee herself was an MP from this particular seat, between 1984 and1989, when she was part of the Congress party.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_18'&gt;This time, TMC has fielded Mimi Chakraborty, who is a household name in West Bengal after playing &amp;lsquo;Pupe&amp;rsquo; in the Bengali TV show &lt;em&gt;Gaaner Oparey&lt;/em&gt;. She made her film debut in 2012 with &lt;em&gt;Baapi Bari Ja&lt;/em&gt;. On the other side, the CPI (M) has pinned all its hopes by fielding former Kolkata mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya. The Leftists are giving full support to Bhattacharya as they think that he is a true successor to the legacy of the galaxy of Parliamentarians from this constituency.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_19'&gt;The Congress has not fielded any candidate from Jadavpur.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_20'&gt;TMC won this seat&amp;nbsp;in&amp;nbsp;2009 and 2014 &amp;mdash;&amp;nbsp;but will Mimi Chakraborty be able to fight against&amp;nbsp;Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya who has been campaigning hard?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_21'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4.). Patna Sahib, Bihar&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_22'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shatrughan Sinha vs Ravi Shankar Prasad&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_23'&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_24'&gt;&lt;img title='ravi-pti-inside_051919110050.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201905/ravi-pti-inside_051919110050.jpg' alt='ravi-pti-inside_051919110050.jpg' /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_25'&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Patna Sabhi: Will the political clash between two good friends see them singing, 'Ye dosti hum abhi chorenge?' (Source: PTI)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_26'&gt;Shatrughan Sinha and Ravi Shankar Prasad are close friends &amp;mdash;&amp;nbsp;but they are fighting hard on local issues. Both of them have not made any personal remarks&amp;nbsp;about each other. Sinha&amp;nbsp;is not new to Patna Sahib constituency, he quite recently joined the Congress party after leading a Twitterati war against the BJP. Patna Sahib has been represented by Sinha twice &amp;mdash; but on a BJP ticket.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_27'&gt;The actor says that from day one, he has been working hard for the people of this area and that&amp;rsquo;s one of the reasons that a hospital has also come up here. To counter Sinha, the BJP has fielded Ravi Shankar Prasad who is a leading minister in Modi&amp;rsquo;s government. Both the candidates were ministers in the Vajpayee government. Ravi Shankar Prasad has been camping in Patna Sahib ever since the elections started and says that the Congress does not have any standing in this constituency.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_28'&gt;Will star power work or will this election create bitterness amongst two friends?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_29'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5.). Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_30'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Narendra Modi vs Shalini Yadav&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_31'&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img title='varanasi_051619120453.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201905/varanasi_051619120453.jpg' alt='varanasi_051619120453.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Varanasi: PM Modi doesn't expect a bumpy ride in&amp;nbsp;Benaras, but is Shalini Yadav up for a harder&amp;nbsp;fight? (Source: PTI)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_32'&gt;Prime Minister Narendra Modi is contesting from Varanasi, a seat he had won with over 5.8 lakh votes last time. It seems that it will be a cakewalk for Modi, the roadshow which he took out to file his nomination papers certainly giving that impression. Modi is fighting against Shalini Yadav, an SP candidate who recently joined Akhilesh Yadav's party quitting the&amp;nbsp;Congress. Yadav says that with the support of SP-BSP, she will be able to defeat the&amp;nbsp;BJP.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_33'&gt;But to make her fight even tougher, the Congress has fielded Ajay Rai who took out a&amp;nbsp;huge roadshow with Priyanka Gandhi on Wednesday evening.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_34'&gt;Shalini Yadav spoke with &lt;em&gt;DailyO&lt;/em&gt; and said: &amp;ldquo;I am not here to contest elections but to win. I will defeat Modi.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_35'&gt;The fight might not be that close &amp;mdash; but surely one to watch out for.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_36'&gt;&lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a style='color: #3366ff;' href='https://www.dailyo.in/politics/swara-bhasker-swara-on-bjp-aap-congress-anti-modi-kanhaiya-kumar-hindutva-1984-sam-pitroda/story/1/30666.html'&gt;Also read:&amp;nbsp;Swara Bhasker: 'BJP's Hindutva polarises, talks of war between Hindus-Muslims. It's getting harder for other parties to escape Hindutva'&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_37'&gt;&lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;iframe src='https://www.dailyo.in/embed/177f17' width='648' height='396' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' allowfullscreen='true'&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

The last phase of elections promises to be a cliffhanger with key contests taking the fight right down to the wire!

Phase 7 Face-Offs: Five big Lok Sabha fights to watch out for this Sunday!

https://www.dailyo.in/election/sunny-deol-lok-sabha-2019-bjp-gurdaspur-sholay-dharmendra-mathura-bikaner-jat-vote-priya-dutt-amitabh-bachchan-30436

&lt;p id='p_1'&gt;It was Gurdaspur that paved the way for stepmother Hema Malini to enter politics. The big question is whether Hema Malini will campaign for fellow BJP-wallah and &amp;lsquo;abhineta-turned-neta&amp;rsquo; Sunny Deol in Gurdaspur now.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_2'&gt;Hema, the actress-dancer, who has been permanently slotted as a bankable star campaigner for the BJP, is free as her own constituency, Mathura, had its voting on April 18.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_3'&gt;&lt;img title='sunnyside-690_042419051249.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201904/sunnyside-690_042419051249.jpg' alt='sunnyside-690_042419051249.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hema Malini is free as voting in Mathura is done. Will she spare some time for Sunny Deol in Gurdaspur now? (Source: India Today)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_4'&gt;Gurdaspur goes to vote on May 19.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_5'&gt;Twenty years ago, Hema had arrived in Gurdaspur to campaign for her co-star and BJP candidate, Vinod Khanna, for the 1999 General Elections. That marked the beginning of her political sojourn, during which crowds gathered to see the star. She did not disappoint, regaling the mesmerised audience with her memorable &amp;lsquo;Basanti&amp;rsquo; (the garrulous character she played) dialogues from the blockbuster film &lt;em&gt;Sholay&lt;/em&gt;. At that point, she had not nurtured any serious ambitions of joining politics&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash; but with Khanna&amp;rsquo;s campaign proving a huge success, the BJP approached her to campaign in other states as well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_6'&gt;Hema&amp;rsquo;s ties with Sunny Deol have apparently been rather strained. After his reported second marriage with Hema in 1979, Dharmendra kept oscillating between the two families and managed, for the most part, to maintain a fine balance between them. However, it was always Hema Malini at the forefront as a parent for her two daughters from Dharmendra. The rift between the two families had come out in the open when Sunny and Bobby Deol did not show up at Ahana&amp;rsquo;s wedding, especially after Hema Malini had proudly declared that Dhamendra&amp;rsquo;s sons would be present on the occasion.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_7'&gt;&lt;img title='ahana1-690_042419050012.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201904/ahana1-690_042419050012.jpg' alt='ahana1-690_042419050012.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sunny and Bobby Deol did not show up at stepsister Ahana&amp;rsquo;s wedding. (Source: Twitter)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_8'&gt;A few ludicrous media reports then claimed that the two actors had chosen to skip the wedding because they were camera-shy, while others suggested that the Deol siblings were concerned that by attending the event hosted by the &amp;lsquo;other woman&amp;rsquo; in their father&amp;rsquo;s life, they would hurt the feelings of their reclusive mother, Parkash Kaur.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_9'&gt;&lt;img title='dharu_042419051059.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201904/dharu_042419051059.jpg' alt='dharu_042419051059.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dharmendra with&amp;nbsp;Parkash&amp;nbsp;Kaur and their sons Bobby and Sunny Deol. (Source: Twitter)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_10'&gt;Sunny would have more problems at hand if he and his parent organisation requisition the services of his father, Dharmendra, to campaign for him.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_11'&gt;Dharmendra is a living legend in Punjab&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash; a handsome icon of masculinity and a famous Jat from Punjab. Dharmendra has been a politician too, having served Bikaner for five years between 2004 and 2009 as a Lok Sabha MP.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_12'&gt;But his real-life neta role has hardly been inspirational or vote-catching.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_13'&gt;&lt;img title='dharmendra-690_042419045542.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201904/dharmendra-690_042419045542.jpg' alt='dharmendra-690_042419045542.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dharmendra campaigning for Hema Malini in Mathura. (Source: PTI)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_14'&gt;Dharmendra won Bikaner in 2004 but was not too enamoured by Lok Sabha politics. He reportedly had set his eye on a ministerial post, in case the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) returned to power. The Sonia Gandhi-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) surprised everyone, however, by toppling the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Dharmendra did not enjoy the prospect of being a mere MP. All through his five-year tenure, he hardly ever attended Parliament. He had no interest in the BJP either.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_15'&gt;Speaking from Bikaner to Aaj Tak news channel on April 17, 2004, in response to Congress leader Naval Kishore Sharma&amp;rsquo;s allegation that the actor had not mentioned the assets owned by Hema Malini in the affidavit submitted while filing nomination papers from Bikaner Lok Sabha, Dharmendra declared that he didn&amp;rsquo;t know anything about the BJP&amp;rsquo;s political philosophy&amp;rsquo; &amp;mdash; and &lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;a style='color: #3366ff;' href='https://www.rediff.com/election/2004/apr/17dharam.htm' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'&gt;added for good measure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, &amp;ldquo;All I know is that if I were to be dictator for five years, I would clear up this mess.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_16'&gt;The BJP was quick to defend his comments. BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar &lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;a style='color: #3366ff;' href='https://www.rediff.com/election/2004/apr/17dharam.htm' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'&gt;told Rediff.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; then, &amp;ldquo;What is wrong with this kind of statement? Balasaheb Thackeray has been making similar statements for several years.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_17'&gt;Dharmendra acknowledged before voters in Bikaner that the public often regarded him as the character he played in many films&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash; a law enforcer who fought to combat and vanquish the corrupt and the evil. During many of his street-corner campaign meetings in April 2004, he would come up with sweeping statements like, &amp;ldquo;When you elect me, I will solve all your problems. I will stand on the top of the Houses of Parliament, and shout &amp;lsquo;People of Delhi [the Government of India], if you don&amp;rsquo;t listen to me, I will jump!&amp;rsquo;&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_18'&gt;&lt;img title='sharmendra-690_042419045357.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201904/sharmendra-690_042419045357.jpg' alt='sharmendra-690_042419045357.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;'Gaonwalon!' Dharmendra in the iconic scene from &lt;em&gt;Sholay&lt;/em&gt;. (Source: Still from the movie &lt;em&gt;Sholay&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_19'&gt;This was an allusion to his wildly popular dialogue in the comical feigned suicide scene in &lt;em&gt;Sholay&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;regarded by the masses as a highlight of his performance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_20'&gt;Many political analysts and commentators feel Dharmendra, the politician, may cause more harm to Sunny Deol, particularly when he is pitted against a seasoned Jat leader, Sunil Jakhar, who is well-versed with not only Punjab politics, but played a key role in dealing with agrarian issues.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_21'&gt;Hema too has had her share of controversies.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_22'&gt;In Mathura, some locals feel her attention has been more focussed on her next film project or dance performance than on Mathura&amp;rsquo;s socio-economic issues. The contest for the Mathura seat in 2019 has the Iyengar Brahmin from Tamil Nadu, riding on the Narendra Modi factor, aiming to trounce the Jat power of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_23'&gt;In politics, three years later, voters in Mathura had no real expectation that she would focus on the needs of her constituency the way other MPs do for fear of losing the trust of either the high command or the electorate. Perhaps they had reason to believe she would survive and sail through all, regardless of her contribution&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash; since her entry into the BJP, Hema Malini has been pampered right through the party&amp;rsquo;s transition from the Advani to the Modi regime.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_24'&gt;Cultural commentator Anil Dharker&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;a style='color: #3366ff;' href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3674793.stm' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'&gt;once explained&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; to the BBC World Service&amp;rsquo;s Outlook programme that while some actors often appeared merely as warm-up acts preceding a political speech, others, such as Dharmendra, had stood for Parliament in their own right.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_25'&gt;In 2008, actor-MP Dharmendra had told PTI, &amp;ldquo;I won&amp;rsquo;t say that coming into politics was a mistake, but yes, an actor should not come into politics as it divides audience and general acceptance among fans. An actor should always remain an actor. For me, the love and support I got all these years from my fans is the greatest achievement.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_26'&gt;&lt;img title='dharmend-690_042419051603.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201904/dharmend-690_042419051603.jpg' alt='dharmend-690_042419051603.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dharmendra made rather controversial statements during his stint in Parliament. (Source: India Today)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_27'&gt;When criticised for his absence from Parliament and his constituency Bikaner, he had retorted, &amp;ldquo;Who says that? I am always in touch with the problem of my constituency. From cleaning up Sur Sagar, a dumping ground in Bikaner, to minimising [reducing] school fees for children, renovation of the theatre Rangmanch, and building bridges, I am trying to solve each and every problem.&amp;rdquo; The actor added, &amp;ldquo;My office in Bikaner apprises me of the demands of the people on a regular basis. I am from a farmer&amp;rsquo;s family so I understand their problems. And this is no politics. I am an emotional but a tough person, these [such] criticism can&amp;rsquo;t break my intention [resolve]. I never did anything to grab attention, either in acting or politics.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_28'&gt;Hema Malini continues to bask in the newfound glory of an actor-politician. &amp;ldquo;I felt grateful that after loving me all these years as a film star, they [the crowds at election meetings] were placing the same faith in me as a political leader,&amp;rdquo; she acknowledged to her biographer Bhawana Somaaya. &amp;ldquo;I felt responsible towards them and did not want to let them down. This was my first close interaction with my fans and it was both exciting as well as frightening. Gradually, I learnt to cope with it. I discovered that politics is a different world altogether and calls for a lot of hard work.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_29'&gt;As Sunny Deol will realise with the passage of time, life in politics is a bumpy ride&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash; something Hema Malini learnt when Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose to visit her constituency Mathura on May 25, 2015. Adorned with jewellery made from mogra flowers&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash; a decision that did not go down well with the locals&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash; she had just about settled herself at the event when the organisers demanded she deliver a speech. Completely unprepared, she mumbled a few sentences in Hindi&amp;mdash; but the crowd soon lost patience and Modi arrived in the nick of time to rescue her.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_30'&gt;In July 2015, &lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;a style='color: #3366ff;' href='https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/hema-malini-blames-father-of-child-who-was-killed-in-accident-for-not-following-traffic-rules-779281' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'&gt;her car would meet with an accident&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; in Dausa, Rajasthan, leading to the death of a four-year-old girl, one of the passengers of the other car involved in the mishap. The actress, who had sustained injuries, was immediately driven to the hospital. But she was quick to reportedly blame the dead child&amp;rsquo;s father, the driver of the other car, for the collision, thereby provoking outrage for her insensitive comments.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_31'&gt;&lt;img title='hm-690_042419045643.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201904/hm-690_042419045643.jpg' alt='hm-690_042419045643.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hema Malini faced criticism for her remarks to the father of a child who died&amp;nbsp;after an accident with a car in which she was travelling. (Source: PTI)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_32'&gt;In spite of the general rancour she has invited through her actions, she is unlikely to be unduly concerned about the stability of her position in Mathura. She has probably not forgotten how she had won the seat by a margin of more than three lakh votes against Jayant Chaudhary in 2014&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash; her eternal &amp;lsquo;dream girl&amp;rsquo; persona made the victory possible, with a little help, of course, from Dharmendra&amp;rsquo;s Jat identity and a great deal of the Modi factor.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_33'&gt;From her point of view, her position probably seems unassailable, at least for now.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_34'&gt;Will Gurdaspur accord a similar position to Sunny Deol?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_35'&gt;The May 23 verdict has a lot in store, including peoples&amp;rsquo; mandate on abhineta-turned-neta dynasties. The Bachchans have had three Parliamentarians &amp;mdash; poet Harivanshrai, Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan &amp;mdash; but only one from the Lok Sabha.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_36'&gt;The Dutts have had three &amp;mdash; Sunil Dutt, Nargis and Priya Dutt, two from the Lok Sabha.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_37'&gt;The House of the Deols has a chance to create a record of sending three Parliamentarians&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash; all directly elected to the Lok Sabha!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_38'&gt;&lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a style='color: #3366ff;' href='https://www.dailyo.in/politics/maneka-gandhi-sonia-gandhi-gandhi-feud-bjp-congress-sanjay-gandhi-emergency-maruti-muslims-indira-gandhi-saas-bahu/story/1/30320.html' target='_blank'&gt;Also read:&amp;nbsp;India's Most Famous Saas-Bahu Saga: Why Indira Gandhi's household produced eternal bitterness between her daughters-in-law&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_39'&gt;&lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;iframe src='https://www.dailyo.in/embed/e769e7' width='690' height='388' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' allowfullscreen='true'&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Dharmendra and Hema Malini have each had starry but stormy political innings thus far. As Sunny Deol now enters the raajneetik fray, will he call upon their appeal or go it his way?

'No If, No But, Only Jatt': But will the Jat plus glamour mix of stars Dharmendra and Hema Malini actually help Sunny Deol in politics?

https://www.dailyo.in/election/sunny-deol-in-bjp-gurdaspur-bjp-sunny-deol-dharmendra-hema-malini-atal-bihari-vajpayee-amit-shah-lok-sabha-2019-dhai-kilo-ka-haath-30420

&lt;p id='p_1'&gt;A number of Bollywood and sports personality made a beeline to join the BJP&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash; but none carries the weight of Sunny Deol because that&amp;rsquo;s pretty much the difference between a &amp;lsquo;helping hand&amp;rsquo; and a &amp;lsquo;dhai kilo ka haath&amp;rsquo;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_2'&gt;And of course, this phrase used&lt;em&gt; ad nauseam&lt;/em&gt; was used as well on the occasion when the actor joined the BJP, on the day the country is voting in the third phase of polling.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_3'&gt;Before the auspicious &amp;lsquo;tareekh&amp;rsquo;, there were speculations and, in fact, his photo with Amit Shah went viral on Twitter.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_4'&gt;&lt;img title='amit_042319015338.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201904/amit_042319015338.jpg' alt='amit_042319015338.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No one messes with them. (Photo: Twitter)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_5'&gt;Soon after, in a press conference, Sunny Deol was inducted into the BJP fold in the presence of veteran leaders Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_6'&gt;The Deol family has a long association with the BJP.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_7'&gt;Dharmendra was Bikaner MP (Lok Sabha) from 2004 to 2009. Hema Malini, too, is contesting from Mathura. Despite their unimpressive performances, it only made sense when Sunny Deol referred to the BJP as his &amp;lsquo;family&amp;rsquo; &amp;mdash; from the time of Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Narendra Modi.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_8'&gt;But, if the BJP had in mind Major Kuldeep Singh Chandpuri (&lt;em&gt;Border&lt;/em&gt;) or Tara Singh (&lt;em&gt;Gadhar&lt;/em&gt;) before it sealed the deal for Sunny Deol, then it must be ready to brace a major heartbreak because, in his first press conference, Sunny said that he is not a man of words. (He is actually a man of action). So, he won&amp;rsquo;t promise thousands of things to his voters but will deliver &amp;mdash; exactly what never happens in Indian politics.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_9'&gt;According to reports, Sunny Deol might be contesting from Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency &amp;mdash; which goes to the polls on May 19 &amp;mdash; because the party has to wrest it from the Congress.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_10'&gt;This constituency has a volatile voting trajectory.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_11'&gt;Bollywood filmstar Vinod Khanna was Gurdaspur MP from 1998 to 2009. In 2009, Gurdaspur went to the Congress, only to return to the BJP in 2014. After Vinod Khanna&amp;rsquo;s passing on, the Congress won the bypoll.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_12'&gt;Since Gurdaspur has shown its love for Bollywood, the party might have zeroed in on Sunny Deol, after pondering over other probable contestants &amp;mdash; either Kavita Khanna (Vinod Khanna&amp;rsquo;s wife) or Akshaye Khanna (his son).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_13'&gt;But since the &amp;lsquo;border&amp;rsquo; situation tops the priority chart, Sunny Deol is the candidate.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_14'&gt;&lt;img title='dhai-kilo-inside_042319013916.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201904/dhai-kilo-inside_042319013916.jpg' alt='dhai-kilo-inside_042319013916.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A leaked photo of Sunny Deol seeking votes in Gurdaspur. (Photo: Twitter)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_15'&gt;And&amp;nbsp;believe it or not, Sunny Deol possesses some special powers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_16'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1.).&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Defence strategy: &lt;em&gt;Pehli goli woh chalayega&amp;hellip; aur aakhri goli hum&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_17'&gt;&lt;img title='sunny_042319012904.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201904/sunny_042319012904.jpg' alt='sunny_042319012904.jpg' /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_18'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2.). Of course, dhai kilo ka haath&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_19'&gt;&lt;iframe class='giphy-embed' src='https://giphy.com/embed/ahK07Jt2zffzi' width='480' height='270' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen='true'&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_20'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3.). He remembers things&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_21'&gt;&lt;iframe class='giphy-embed' src='https://giphy.com/embed/pNU2VU3VUw8YU' width='480' height='270' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen='true'&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_22'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4.). And he has the best/same reaction to every situation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_23'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;iframe class='giphy-embed' src='https://giphy.com/embed/l1JoiB1UrdjCP8424' width='480' height='204' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen='true'&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_24'&gt;&lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a style='color: #3366ff;' href='https://www.dailyo.in/arts/sunny-deol-mandir-cycling-uttar-pradesh/story/1/22628.html' target='_blank'&gt;Also Read:&amp;nbsp;What I discovered inside Sunny Deol Ka Mandir&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_25'&gt;&lt;iframe src='https://www.dailyo.in/embed/176417' width='690' height='388' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' allowfullscreen='true'&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Pehli goli woh chalayega… aur aakhri goli hum: The defence strategy no one dared to implement. Now, it can be followed. Using a dhai kilo ka haath.

Sunny Deol joins BJP: What Sunny Deol can do for the saffron party, no one else can. Here's why

https://www.dailyo.in/election/lok-sabha-elections-2019-akshaye-khanna-vinod-khanna-bjp-gurdaspur-29934

&lt;p id='p_1'&gt;The Bharatiya Janata Party, perhaps a shade more than its rivals, has always relied on infusing a quotient of &amp;lsquo;glamour&amp;rsquo; and &amp;lsquo;stardom&amp;rsquo; to win elections. And so seems the case in the upcoming Lok Sabha election from Gurdaspur in Punjab, where the saffron party is said to be pondering with hosting film actor Akshaye Khanna as its nominee.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_2'&gt;&lt;img title='main_akshaye-khanna_031619022701.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201903/main_akshaye-khanna_031619022701.jpg' alt='main_akshaye-khanna_031619022701.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;On his father's footsteps: Akshaye Khanna likely to be the BJP candidate from Gurdaspur. His father, Vinod Khanna won four Lok Sabha elections from Gurdaspur (Photo: PTI)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_3'&gt;Much of the speculation is premised on his father, the late Bollywood actor Vinod Khanna&amp;rsquo;s immense popularity in the border district. Khanna, notably, won four Lok Sabha elections (1998, 1999, 2004 and 2014) from Gurdaspur and was widely viewed as something of a &amp;lsquo;sure thing&amp;rsquo; for the BJP. In fact, the party fared poorly in the 2017 by-election necessitated by Khanna&amp;rsquo;s demise, with its candidate, Mumbai businessman Swaran Singh Salaria losing to the Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_4'&gt;&lt;img title='main_modi_khanna_031619022914.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201903/main_modi_khanna_031619022914.jpg' alt='main_modi_khanna_031619022914.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vinod Khanna was said to be close to Narendra Modi. In this file photo, the two are seen sharing a moment&amp;nbsp;during an election rally in Pathankot. (Photo: PTI)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_5'&gt;Now that there is another shot at the seat, local BJP leaders in Gurdaspur believe that Akshaye can similarly benefit from his Bollywood connection. &amp;ldquo;Gurdaspur&amp;rsquo;s people are a very emotional lot and will be only too willing to adopt Akshaye as one of their own,&amp;rdquo; said one such leader.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_6'&gt;&lt;img title='main_swaran-singh-sa_031619023227.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201903/main_swaran-singh-sa_031619023227.jpg' alt='main_swaran-singh-sa_031619023227.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vinod Khanna's demise necessitated by-poll in Gurdaspur &amp;mdash; BJP's Swaran Singh Salaria faced an embarrassing loss to the Congress candidate Sunil Jakhar.&amp;nbsp; (Photo: Facebook)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_7'&gt;But nothing&amp;rsquo;s final as yet and a formal announcement is likely to be deferred given that Punjab will go to the polls in the final phase on May 19. Meanwhile, there are several others, including Salaria and BJP national vice president Avinash Rai Khanna, whose names are circulating.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_8'&gt;(Courtesy of &lt;em&gt;Mail Today&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_9'&gt;&lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a style='color: #3366ff;' href='https://www.dailyo.in/humour/lok-sabha-elections-2019-congress-bjp-10-leaders-who-must-desert-their-parties/story/1/29925.html' target='_blank'&gt;Also read:&amp;nbsp;10 leaders who must leave their parties ahead of Lok Sabha Elections 2019&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_10'&gt;&lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;iframe src='https://www.dailyo.in/embed/b74bb7' width='690' height='388' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' allowfullscreen='true'&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Gurdaspur constituency was to Vinod Khanna's charisma rather than BJP's credit. It remains to be seen if Khanna (Jr) is able to exude the same charm in the constituency.

Lok Sabha 2019: Will Akshaye Khanna be able to weave the magic his father created in Gurdaspur?

https://www.dailyo.in/politics/we-ve-forgotten-gurdaspur-let-s-not-forget-pulwama-terror-state-pakistan-masood-azhar-jaish-balakot-abhinandan-varthaman-hafiz-saeed-imran-khan-liberals-narendra-modi-29846

&lt;p id='p_1'&gt;On February 14, 2019, India saw one of the ghastliest terror attacks of all time. The nation lost 40 of its soldiers when a convoy of the Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was attacked in Kashmir&amp;rsquo;s Pulwama by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber who owed allegiance to the Pakistan-based jihadi organisation, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_2'&gt;As India stood still, we were reminded of many such previous attacks that proved that our neighbouring country Pakistan has been harbouring terrorists. From the 2001 Parliament attack by Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed that took nine lives to the 2008 Mumbai attacks where 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists took more than 170 lives. From the 2015 Gurdaspur attack that killed three civilians and four policemen to the 2016 Uri attack that claimed the lives of 17 jawans&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash; India&amp;rsquo;s war on terror isn&amp;rsquo;t new.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_3'&gt;For decades now, dastardly terrorist attacks have been tearing down our nation&amp;rsquo;s strength&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash; with frequency and savagery that know no bounds.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_4'&gt;While every terror attack is equally appalling, the Pulwama terror attack was a reminder that this war and this complacency can&amp;rsquo;t go hand in hand.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_5'&gt;&lt;img title='gurdaspur_031019063405.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201903/gurdaspur_031019063405.jpg' alt='gurdaspur_031019063405.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;We have forgotten the Gurdaspur attack &amp;mdash; although it hasn't been so long. (Photo: Reuters)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_6'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Passive to aggressive&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_7'&gt;Pakistan, the staging ground for various terrorist groups, needed a befitting reply. The calls for revenge amongst Indians were roaring. And so,&amp;nbsp;12 days after the Pulwama attack, when Indian fighter jets bombed a JeM terror camp at Pakistan&amp;rsquo;s Balakot, the Indian in me was filled with pride.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_8'&gt;Don&amp;rsquo;t&amp;nbsp;get me wrong here &amp;mdash;&amp;nbsp;I am no warmonger. But I am no coward either. I totally stand with India&amp;rsquo;s act of self-defence against Pakistan &amp;ndash; for Pakistan is a state-sponsor of terrorism, which has repeatedly attacked India.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_9'&gt;For so long,&amp;nbsp;our peace-loving Gandhian land has been mum &amp;mdash;&amp;nbsp;but no more. We have all the right to retaliate to the unwarranted aggression &amp;ndash; more so if it targets our country&amp;rsquo;s pride, our soldiers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_10'&gt;The air-strike was a&amp;nbsp;simple message that if Pakistan-backed terrorist groups attack India again, India will hit&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash; and hit them hard.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_11'&gt;Here&amp;rsquo;s what Bhagwad Gita says:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_12'&gt;अहिंसा परमो धर्मः धर्म हिंसा तथैव च:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_13'&gt;अर्थात् यदि अहिंसा सबसे बड़ा धर्म है, तो धर्म की रक्षा के लिए हिंसा करना भी उसी प्रकार&amp;nbsp;श्रेष्ठ है|&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_14'&gt;This means that although non-violence is the ultimate dharma or duty, it is equally righteous to commit violence for the protection of dharma.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_15'&gt;&lt;img title='indira-gandhi-ili-50_031019063448.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201903/indira-gandhi-ili-50_031019063448.jpg' alt='indira-gandhi-ili-50_031019063448.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remember, this is the land of Indira Gandhi. She brooked no nonsense in 1971.&amp;nbsp;(Photo: India Today)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_16'&gt;The Bhagwad Gita has many such anecdotes that say to kill an enemy for the protection of the good, there is nothing wrong&amp;nbsp;in picking up a weapon. So, when India strikes back at Pakistan, it is our dharma to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_17'&gt;India has made one thing pretty clear: We won&amp;rsquo;t tolerate terror in our country and if Pakistan doesn&amp;rsquo;t mend its ways, then our soldiers will kill the terrorists. And successive governments&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash; irrespective of the party in power &amp;mdash; must match this doctrine.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_18'&gt;Call it a 'paradigm shift' or a long-awaited move on part of the Indian government &amp;mdash;&amp;nbsp;but we won&amp;rsquo;t tolerate another terror attack.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_19'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hello Liberals,&amp;nbsp;where are you?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_20'&gt;A day after the Indian air-strike at Balakot, Pakistan launched an incursion across the Line of Control (LoC) which resulted in aerial combat. The dogfight led to the capture of Indian Air Force pilot Abhinandan Varthaman who shot down an intruding Pak F-16 fighter jet during the cross-border airstrike.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_21'&gt;After spending 60 hours in Pakistani captivity, the Indian Air Force pilot was released on March 1. Feted as a hero among a majority of Indians, Abhinandan won many hearts for the calm he was seen maintaining in the videotaped interrogations by Pakistan officers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_22'&gt;&lt;img title='pathankot-candle-lig_031019063500.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201903/pathankot-candle-lig_031019063500.jpg' alt='pathankot-candle-lig_031019063500.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;India, don't move on. (Photo: Reuters)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_23'&gt;While the pilot was praised by many for his bravery and composure, India&amp;rsquo;s liberal elite was on a different tangent altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_24'&gt;As disconnected as they can get from the reality of society, India's liberals waxed lyrical about the Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. Perhaps these ivory-tower radicals, who were just&amp;nbsp;too stunned with the so-called &amp;lsquo;peace gesture&amp;rsquo; of the Pakistan government, were unaware that the neighbouring country was&amp;nbsp;in fact obliged&amp;nbsp;to release our pilot under the Geneva Conventions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_25'&gt;Note here that these are the same group of what I call&amp;nbsp;&amp;ldquo;intellectually illiberal and condescending people&amp;rdquo; who broach peace and human rights. They often sympathise with terrorists and demand peace, forgetting that peace is a two-way road. You can&amp;rsquo;t stay peaceful at the cost of your countrymen&amp;rsquo;s lives.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_26'&gt;It is shocking how many among us aren&amp;rsquo;t supporting the nation in this war on terrorism with Pakistan while the latter has been shamed internationally and has lost the majority of its global support post-the Pulwama attack. Now that Pakistan risks becoming a global pariah, some Indians are commiserating with it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_27'&gt;Those who are soft on Pakistan, are they actually soft on terror? Because Pakistan is a hub of terror. It may be difficult for some to understand, but Pakistan has been involved in terrorist activities around the world. Shielding itself with&amp;nbsp;its nuclear umbrella, Pakistan continues to harbour several terror organisations.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_28'&gt;&lt;img title='terrorism_031019063511.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201903/terrorism_031019063511.jpg' alt='terrorism_031019063511.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pakistan is a land of terrorists. It always was. We need to deal with it like that. (Photo: Reuters)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_29'&gt;But India has had enough. Pakistan must soon dismantle terror infrastructure and act against operatives such as Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar. If Pakistan doesn&amp;rsquo;t crack down on the terrorist groups it hosts, India will not be afraid to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_30'&gt;Mind you, this is the land of Indira Gandhi&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash; the Indian PM who dealt with Pakistan with an iron hand. The PM who was an excellent military strategist and a diplomat like no other. The PM under whose guidance we won the 1971 war against Pakistan.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_31'&gt;Unfortunately for us, and fortunately for Pakistan, after Indira Gandhi, there has been no other Indian PM who could deal with internal and external enemies with the same bravery.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_32'&gt;A woman of substance and a leader of the masses, Indira believed in no chest-thumping, no jingoism and certainly no propaganda.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_33'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Politics over national&amp;nbsp;security&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_34'&gt;Today, as we see it, political rhetoric has taken precedence over the nation&amp;rsquo;s sovereignty. While Indira never boasted, her actions did the talking. But currently, nationalism has politics in tow.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_35'&gt;While the country was mourning the loss of its soldiers in the Pulwama attack, our PM failed to immediately address the nation and chose to go on the hustings instead. His much-famed &lt;em&gt;Mann ki Baat&lt;/em&gt; was nowhere to be heard. But after launching air-strikes at Balakot, the BJP government took no time to politicise the Pulwama attack for garnering votes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_36'&gt;Although I wholeheartedly applaud the current government&amp;rsquo;s response to Pakistan-sponsored terror&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash; be it the air-strikes now or the surgical strike after Uri&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash; I can&amp;rsquo;t applaud the ensuing politicising of such acts. These acts are to counter the attack on the soul of India &amp;mdash;&amp;nbsp;not to polarise voters in favour of the BJP or the Congress.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_37'&gt;That said, boasting about the number of dead terrorists isn&amp;rsquo;t a tactical solution to this war on terrorism.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_38'&gt;Today, we want the international community to add Pakistan to the list of state sponsors of terrorism. But we have failed to walk the talk.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_39'&gt;And over the years, India has allowed Pakistan to become what it is.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_40'&gt;Had this step been taken by the UPA government after the 2008 Mumbai attack, Pakistan wouldn&amp;rsquo;t have come this far.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_41'&gt;When Atal Bihari Vajpayee pushed for the peace process with Pakistan by inaugurating the Delhi-Lahore bus service in February 1999, Pakistan ditched us soon by launching the Kargil War. And it never stopped betraying us.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_42'&gt;The fact that Pakistan&amp;rsquo;s territory was used for launching cross-border terror strikes on Mumbai, Pathankot, Uri, and now, Pulwama, can&amp;rsquo;t be denied. Which is why PM Modi must talk tough and act tough with Islamabad and ask the Pakistan PM Imran Khan to hand over India&amp;rsquo;s enemies&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash; Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_43'&gt;He must take a solid stand against Pakistan and do away with the bonhomie that he was trying to strike up&amp;nbsp;by visiting Lahore uninvited. Additionally, other political leaders like Navjot Singh Sidhu should follow suit. No more talks of building the Kartarpur Corridor on Indian soil. The process should be stalled with immediate effect, for it will fuel Khalistani terror once again&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash; something that I and Captain Amarinder Singh already cautioned against in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_44'&gt;The sheer complacency of this government along with security and intelligence failures must be done away with.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_45'&gt;Also, remember that most of our defence equipment require an urgent upgrade. &lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;a style='color: #3366ff;' href='https://scroll.in/latest/844692/indian-army-lacks-ammunition-and-cannot-fight-a-war-longer-than-10-days-says-cag-report' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'&gt;As per a July 2017 report&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) reported that the Indian Army&amp;rsquo;s ammunition will not last for more than 10 days in a war. It also said that in case if a war, the military does not have the minimum required stock of 55 per cent of the 152 types of arms it uses for operational preparedness.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_46'&gt;After Rajiv Gandhi&amp;rsquo;s tenure as PM, successive governments failed to give due attention to the defence budget. In fact, last year, the Indian Army stated that 68 per cent of its equipment is vintage. And now that the defence allocation in the interim Budget 2019-20 has a shortfall, particularly in its capital allocation, modernisation seems like a far cry.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_47'&gt;&lt;img title='jihadi_031019063548.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201903/jihadi_031019063548.jpg' alt='jihadi_031019063548.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Our war on terrorism is not against Kashmiris. It is vital to stress that.&amp;nbsp;(Photo: Reuters)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_48'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The perils of being Pakistan&amp;rsquo;s neighbour&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_49'&gt;India must learn from the United States. Just like the US declared a war on terror after 9/11 and destroyed its enemies, the Indian government needs to aim for the same.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_50'&gt;I have full faith in our defence forces. They have the strength, valour, and conviction to conduct an operation against the Pakistani terror outfits and be successful. All we need is an assurance from the present and future governments, an assurance that there won&amp;rsquo;t be any attack on India after Pulwama.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_51'&gt;For this to happen, the government must take tough coercive action against Pakistan. We must have a consistent Pakistan policy. Rather than being reactive, we must be proactive.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_52'&gt;Though flights re-routing and not crossing Pakistani airspace may look like a good solution, in reality, it isn&amp;rsquo;t. For we have done that in the past too. On Jan 1, 2002, India imposed a ban on all flights originating from Pakistan. This move proved much damaging to India than to Pakistan. Simply because this step resulted in increased fuel costs and longer flying times for India.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_53'&gt;Thus, what we need is a balanced strategy that puts diplomatic, military and economic pressure on Pakistan.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_54'&gt;And while we are at it, let&amp;rsquo;s not forget that we also must tackle the infiltration of jihadi elements in West Bengal, which has turned into a safe haven for jihadists thanks reportedly&amp;nbsp;to Mamta Banerjee and her vote bank politics.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_55'&gt;As for Kashmir, remember that in the last two to three years, there has been a &lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;a style='color: #3366ff;' href='https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/191-kashmiri-youths-joined-militancy-in-2018-official/articleshow/67835737.cms' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'&gt;drastic increase in the number of local Kashmiri&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;recruits into terror outfits. And so, we must resort to a carrot-and-stick approach to tackle radicalisation in the Valley.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_56'&gt;While we do that, we must not forget that our war on terrorism is not against Kashmiris &amp;mdash; it is against Pakistan-sponsored terror groups who are infiltrating Kashmir. It is against Islamist radicalism, which has become a global threat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_57'&gt;Understand that as long as Pakistan exists as a nation, it will continue spreading terror in J&amp;amp;K and Punjab. Pakistan is a terrorist state and must be declared one.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_58'&gt;Today, we are witnessing an emotional outpouring that advocates revenge for our fallen heroes. Today, we are being driven by&amp;nbsp;a &amp;lsquo;media narrative&amp;rsquo;. Today, we have become Internet soldiers, fighting with Pakistanis on social media. Today, we have the time to depict our outrage through protests and candlelight marches. Tomorrow, we may get busy with our usual, mundane tasks&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash; forgetting Pulwama just like every other terrorist act that has hurt India in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_59'&gt;So, India, please don&amp;rsquo;t move on.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_60'&gt;Please don&amp;rsquo;t sleep now &amp;mdash;&amp;nbsp;to wake up when another terror attack strikes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_61'&gt;We may have forgotten 26/11, Gurdaspur, Pathankot and Uri. We may have forgotten all such Pakistan-sponsored terror attacks that infested&amp;nbsp;and hurt&amp;nbsp;India.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_62'&gt;But let&amp;rsquo;s not forget Pulwama.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_63'&gt;Pulwama should not be repeated.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_64'&gt;&lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a style='color: #3366ff;' href='https://www.dailyo.in/politics/2019-general-elections-narendra-modi-bjp-abhinandan-varthman-terrorism-jobs-data-pulwama-indian-today-opinion-poll/story/1/29832.html' target='_blank'&gt;Also Read:&amp;nbsp;General Elections 2019: Even after Balakot, are major BJP states not joining General Elections, wary of an uncertain mood?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_65'&gt;&lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;iframe src='https://www.dailyo.in/embed/774577' width='690' height='388' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' allowfullscreen='true'&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

This is the land of Indira Gandhi, the PM who dealt with Pakistan with an iron hand. It's time to adopt a similar approach. That is both righteous dharma and true intelligence.

We forgot 26/11. Pathankot. Uri. Let's not forget Pulwama now

https://www.dailyo.in/politics/how-modis-gurdaspur-visit-led-to-a-face-off-with-amarinder-singh-28732

&lt;p id='p_1'&gt;This past week, Punjab witnessed a rather unlikely face-off between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, who is widely known to speak his mind bluntly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_2'&gt;On January 3, PM Modi, who was in Punjab to address the Indian Science Congress, being held at the Jalandhar-based Lovely Professional University (LPU), used the occasion to address a Bharatiya Janata Party rally in the border district of Gurdaspur.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_3'&gt;He took liberal potshots at the Congress leadership, not even sparing the CM.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_4'&gt;The PM accused Congress chief ministers, including Capt Singh, of making false promises to farmers that their debt would be waived.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_5'&gt;The party, he said, grabbed power in Punjab (in 2017) &amp;ldquo;by selling white lies.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_6'&gt;The PM also charged the Amarinder Singh government of dragging its feet in the implementation of central schemes and projects designed to bring succour to the people.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_7'&gt;He claimed the state was being inexplicably tardy with the Smart City projects approved for Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar. He said progress on other schemes, like Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), was equally snail-paced in Punjab.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_8'&gt;Training sights on the Congress-led UPA government, Modi derided its indifferent attitude towards the key projects that would have benefitted the people of Punjab. Specifically mentioning the Shahpur Kandi hydel project and the relining of the Rajasthan and Sirhind Feeder canals, he said it was left to his government to revive the long-pending ventures, which would irrigate thousands of hectares apart from generating power.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_9'&gt;&lt;img title='modi-in-gurdaspur-in_010619045721.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo/story/embed/201901/modi-in-gurdaspur-in_010619045721.jpg' alt='modi-in-gurdaspur-in_010619045721.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PM Narendra Modi addresses a rally in Gurdaspur with BJP ally Shiromani Akali Dal leaders. (Photo: Mail Today)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_10'&gt;Also touching upon more emotive issues, the PM accused the Gandhi family of continuing to extend patronage to men responsible for killing Sikh children, women and men during the 1984 riots. He specifically cited Congress leader Sajjan Kumar.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_11'&gt;Also, speaking not far from where Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan performed the ground-breaking ceremony to build a pilgrim corridor to the Kartarpur Sahib gurudwaras, the PM mocked the Punjab Congress leadership for trying to appropriate the credit for something done by the NDA government.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_12'&gt;Barely 24 hours later, Amarinder Singh hit back at the PM.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_13'&gt;In a January 4 communiqu&amp;eacute;, the Punjab CM dismissed Modi as the &amp;ldquo;&lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;a style='color: #3366ff;' href='https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/pm-modi-worst-leader-india-has-seen-since-independence-amarinder-singh-1972835' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'&gt;worst leader India has seen since Independence&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_14'&gt;Disputing the PM&amp;rsquo;s claims in Gurdaspur &amp;mdash; from the 1984 riots and Kartarpur Corridor to the farm debt waiver &amp;mdash; Singh said the PM had spoken nothing but &amp;ldquo;brazen lies&amp;rdquo; from the BJP stage in the border town. He said it was all done to mask the PM&amp;rsquo;s failure to fulfil every single promise made before being voted to power in 2014.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_15'&gt;&amp;ldquo;Despite the fiscal mess your Bharatiya Janata Party and its ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal had left behind for us, we have managed to waive Rs 3,417 crores of crop loans of 4,14,275 farmers in just one year,&amp;rdquo; Singh said adding that an additional Rs 4,000 crores owed by another three lakh farmers would stand waived very soon.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_16'&gt;Similarly, challenging the PM&amp;rsquo;s claims on Kartarpur and the Center&amp;rsquo;s contributions to the upcoming celebrations of Guru Nanak&amp;rsquo;s 550th Prakash Purab, Singh described PM Modi as &amp;ldquo;a master of deceit and disinformation.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_17'&gt;(Courtesy of&lt;em&gt; Mail Today&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_18'&gt;&lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a style='color: #3366ff;' href='https://www.dailyo.in/politics/nirmala-sitharaman-rahul-gandhi-parliament-defence-minister-rafale-row-narendra-modi/story/1/28722.html' target='_blank'&gt;Also Read:&amp;nbsp;Why Nirmala Sitharaman is the dazzling new 'angry woman' of Indian politics&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_19'&gt;&lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;iframe src='https://www.dailyo.in/embed/06e806' width='690' height='388' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' allowfullscreen='true'&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

The PM charged the Amarinder Singh government of dragging its feet in the implementation of central schemes and projects designed to bring succour to the people.

How Modi's Gurdaspur visit led to a face-off with Amarinder Singh

https://www.dailyo.in/politics/punjab-bypolls-allegations-gurdaspur-bjp-sad-congress-20053

&lt;p id='p_1'&gt;Things couldn&amp;rsquo;t have gone lower than they did in the fortnight-long campaign for the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha by-election on October 11. Abandoning the usual promises or claims of governance, development or local livelihood issues, the poll campaign was, sadly, completely overtaken by sordid allegations and counter-allegations of immorality and sleaze.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_2'&gt;On September 29, the police in Gurdaspur booked former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) minister Sucha Singh Langah for rape. This on the complaint of a 39-year-old woman constable who alleged that the former minister forced her into having sexual relations with him for nearly eight years by threatening her with death.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_3'&gt;While Langah surrendered on October 3 and was duly arrested by the police, it all primarily queered the pitch for the BJP, which contested the by-poll in alliance with the SAD.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_4'&gt;Not only was Langah the senior most SAD leader of the constituency, in acknowledgement of the influence and muscle power he commanded, the BJP had drafted him as campaign in-charge of its nominee, Swarn Salaria &amp;mdash; a rich businessman.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_5'&gt;And even as the saffron party calibrated its response to the scandal, things became even more problematic when pornographic video purportedly depicting Langah engaging in sex with a woman, went viral on social media.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_6'&gt;&lt;img title='khanna690_101317015638.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo//story/embed/201710/khanna690_101317015638.jpg' alt='khanna690_101317015638.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The by-election in Gurdaspur was necessitated by the untimely demise of the incumbent MP, Bollywood actor Vinod Khanna.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_7'&gt;Predictably, the Congress had a field day taking down the BJP at poll rallies addressed among others, by a vociferous Navjot Sidhu who went straight for the SAD-BJP&amp;rsquo;s jugular.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_8'&gt;But wait, there was more to emerge. Just as the SAD-BJP appeared to have managed to put a lid on the Langah affair &amp;mdash; removing him from all SAD posts and even nudging the Sikh clergy to announce his excommunication &amp;mdash; rape allegations against Salaria surfaced.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_9'&gt;This was accompanied by sleazy still pictures allegedly depicting the BJP candidate in the company of a former air-hostess.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_10'&gt;Their backs to the wall, BJP leaders cried foul, blaming the ruling Congress for sullying the election campaign. Apparent attempts at retaliation &amp;mdash; the surfacing of another porn video amid whispers that it showed the Congress&amp;rsquo;s former Beas legislator Jasbir Singh Dimpa &amp;mdash; didn't really cut it with voters.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_11'&gt;If anything, the episode may just have won some brownie points for the ruling party with an understandably enraged Dimpa lodging a police complaint that was promptly converted into an FIR.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_12'&gt;The Aam Admi Party&amp;rsquo;s nominee retired major general Suresh Khajuria kept aloof of the accusations of sleaze flying around Gurdaspur and did try to raise local issues like depleting groundwater and problems of farmers with land on the Pakistan side of the electrified security fence. But the narrative sadly remained focused on the allegations against Langah and Salaria.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_13'&gt;The by-election in Gurdaspur was necessitated by the untimely demise of the incumbent MP, Bollywood actor Vinod Khanna. The votes will be counted on October 15.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_14'&gt;(Courtesy of &lt;em&gt;Mail Today.&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_15'&gt;&lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a style='color: #3366ff;' href='http://www.dailyo.in/variety/hajj-muslim-women-islam-triple-talaq-bjp-muslim-appeasement/story/1/20034.html' target='_blank'&gt;Also read:&amp;nbsp;Credit for letting women travel alone for haj goes to Saudi Arabia, not India&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_16'&gt;&lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;iframe src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/W0WZPoQy6OU' width='690' height='388' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen='true'&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

The poll campaign was completely overtaken by sordid allegations of immorality.

How allegations of sex and sleaze overshadowed Punjab bypolls

https://www.dailyo.in/voices/vinod-khanna-politician-bjp-films-osho-16889

&lt;p id='p_1'&gt;It was about 15 years ago that for the first time I met veteran actor and politician Vinod Khanna, who passed away today at the age of 70 after battling cancer for many years.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_2'&gt;He was a Union minister of state for tourism and culture in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, and I was a principal correspondent with &lt;em&gt;Hindustan Times&lt;/em&gt; in Bhopal.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_3'&gt;Khanna was on a visit to Bhopal in December 2002. He was a first-term BJP Lok Sabha MP from Gurdaspur in Punjab. The BJP was one of my news beats then. Hence, I went to meet him and elicit his views on several issues.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_4'&gt;With Digvijaya Singh as the chief minister, the Congress was in power in Madhya Pradesh back then. The roads were in a pathetic state. The condition of electricity supply was also much to be desired for. Moreover, as he was the minister of state for tourism and culture, I planned to ask a few questions about tourism.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_5'&gt;Before meeting Khanna, I had done my home work well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_6'&gt;&lt;img title='vinodbd-body_042717071304.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo//story/embed/201704/vinodbd-body_042717071304.jpg' alt='vinodbd-body_042717071304.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vinod Khanna with Osho in 1979. (Photo: India Today)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_7'&gt;I knew he was a strong follower of 'Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh', better known as Osho. I also knew that Osho was born in Madhya Pradesh, in a small village called Kuchwada in Udaipura tehsil of Raisen district. I was aware that the controversial guru had completed his higher studies in Jabalpur and had also taught philosophy in Jabalpur University. Hence, I thought to ask a couple of questions about Osho too.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_8'&gt;I was bustling with excitement when I reached Madhya Pradesh government&amp;rsquo;s Hotel Ashoka Lake View, where he had put up. I was much before time. I was informed that he had gone to visit Kuchwada and would be back in a while.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_9'&gt;When he returned, driving the car himself, he was dressed in maroon robes in the avatar of 'Swami Vinod Bharti'. He was wearing a necklace with an Osho pendant. He headed for his room and very soon appeared before us waiting journalists.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_10'&gt;The most significant part of Vinod Khanna&amp;rsquo;s personality which we noticed was that he was always pleasant and humble. Despite being a successful actor and a Union minister in his first stint as an MP, he did not betray arrogance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_11'&gt;The ever-smiling actor-politician got down to replying all my questions. Despite being busy &amp;mdash; as some MP Tourism officials and several local BJP leaders were waiting to meet him &amp;mdash; Khanna did not show any hurry.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_12'&gt;I asked him about his plans for Osho&amp;rsquo;s birthplace at Kuchwada. He said he was planning to set up an archive of Osho in Kuchwada. The sanyasis had bought the property and started restoration work of the house in which Osho was born on December 11, 1931. Osho&amp;rsquo;s Japanese disciples had constructed an ashram, which could house about 400 people, he said.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_13'&gt;My next question was about Osho&amp;rsquo;s ashram in Pune, better known as Osho Commune. It was in the news then because of the internal feud among the Osho disciples.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_14'&gt;Khanna regretted that two foreigners, an Englishman and a Canadian, had taken over the ashram and had driven out the inner circle of 21 members appointed by Osho. He feared they would bring down the Buddha Hall. He said one group, to which he belonged, wanted the ashram to be a pilgrimage and heritage site.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_15'&gt;Secondly, he said, the disciples would be cautious about the copyrights on Osho&amp;rsquo;s discourses, which are recorded in books, and audio and video cassettes. He said it was a matter of shame that their copyrights were with foreigners and anyone wanting to publish them had to pay royalty in dollars.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_16'&gt;Khanna said Osho&amp;rsquo;s books were like Bible and Gita to his disciples.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_17'&gt;Besides places associated with Osho, I also asked Khanna about his plans for other tourist places. For the first time, I learnt about circuits and that the government was planning to set up tourist circuits. While circuits is a common word now, it was a new concept then.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_18'&gt;&lt;img title='vinod-khanna-body_042717072217.jpg' src='https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/dailyo//story/embed/201704/vinod-khanna-body_042717072217.jpg' alt='vinod-khanna-body_042717072217.jpg' /&gt;&lt;span style='text-align: left; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; color: #000000;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A file photo of Vinod Khanna with BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prashad, JP Nadda and Shatrughan Sinha at Parliament House. (Credit: PTI photo)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_19'&gt;He said the Centre would develop 36 pilgrimage circuits all over India in the next six years, by completing six circuits each year. Each circuit, he said, would involve a few states. For instance, the Buddhist circuit would include Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and Sanchi in Bihar, UP and MP respectively.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_20'&gt;Asked how did it feel to be a politician, Khanna smiled and said he was enjoying it. &amp;ldquo;I am very comfortable. This is probably because I am a satisfied man,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_21'&gt;During those years, most of the Hindi films were flops at the box office. Khanna held poor scripts and piracy responsible for it. He said even before films were released, their VCDs were out in the market. He revealed that he had recommended to the information and broadcasting ministry to make piracy a non-bailable offence.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_22'&gt;Talking about underworld funding of films, Khanna expressed satisfaction that the film sector had been recognised as an industry and banks were financing viable projects. He also said till then banks had financed Rs 300 crore in filmmaking. &amp;ldquo;We are looking for cheaper interest rates,&amp;rdquo; he said as his last reply to my final question.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_23'&gt;Subsequently, I met Khanna in Parliament on several occasions. He was a four-term MP, consecutively elected from Gurdaspur itself. He was equally friendly and amiable as he was during our first meeting. But I never knew the ever-smiling actor-politician would leave the world so early in life.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_24'&gt;&lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a style='color: #3366ff;' title='Why it's difficult to recall my childhood without memories of Vinod Khanna' href='http://www.dailyo.in/arts/vinod-khanna-original-bollywood-dayavan/story/1/16887.html' target='_blank'&gt;Also read: Why it's difficult to recall my childhood without memories of Vinod Khanna&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_25'&gt;&lt;span style='color: #3366ff;'&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;iframe src='http://www.dailyo.in/embed/441f44' width='690' height='360' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' allowfullscreen='true'&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

The most striking thing about his personality was that he was always pleasant and humble.

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gurdaspur