Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi : With tears in her eyes on the second death anniversary of Bollywood star and four-time MP from Gurdaspur Vinod Khanna, his wife Kavita Khanna feels “let down” by the BJP.
“I feel betrayed. I also feel that the wishes of people who wanted me as their MP were ignored by not fielding me for the Gurdaspur constituency in the ongoing Lok Sabha election.
Feeling dejected with the BJP decision, she, however, said she will not fight election from any other party. She claimed that she had been approached by various parties but didn’t show interest in joining them.
When asked will she campaign for actor Sunny Deol, the BJP nominee from the constituency, she said, “I have not been approached by anybody for the campaign.”
Asked will she campaign if the Bollywood actor asks her to, she replied “I can’t say”.
She also said she was promised the ticket from Gurdaspur by senior leaders in the BJP. “They had told me to be ready to fight the election. Gurdaspur people saw in me their favourite leader Vinod Khanna, but I was denied the ticket at the last moment. The local people felt bad too and approached me to fight as an independent candidate…. I want to be honest to say I felt hurt. The party has the right to do so but the way it has been done I feel abandoned and rejected,” she said.
She said she knew PM Modi since 1999 and had high admiration for him. “I would like to be part of his vision for the nation and believe I can contribute to BJP and support the Prime Minister,” she added.
Currently, the Gurdaspur constituency is represented by Congress MP Sunil Jakhar who won the seat in the 2017 bypoll after the death of Vinod Khanna in April that year.
Kavita was among the frontrunners for the BJP ticket during the 2017 bypoll too, but the party chose businessman Salaria over her.
