Jaya Prada Joins BJP; Sunny Deol Might Follow

New Delhi: Actor Jaya Prada on Tuesday joined the BJP amid speculation that she might be fielded against the Samajwadi Party’s Azam Khan from Rampur constituency in Uttar Pradesh.

Jaya Prada has successfully fought from Rampur twice as an SP candidate. She and Amar Singh were later expelled from the party. In 2014, she fought from Bijnor on a Rashtriya Lok Dal ticket but lost.

Jaya Prada’s entry into the BJP comes at a time when the party is reaching out to several Bollywood stars to leverage on their star power for electoral success.

Reports suggest the party has asked the Maharashtra unit of the BJP to convince actor Sunny Deol to contest from Gurdaspur in Punjab, a seat that was once represented by late actor Vinod Khanna. Deol has a huge fan following in Punjab.

Deol’s father Dharmendra was earlier a BJP MP from Bikaner. Dharmendra’s wife and Sunny’s step-mother, actress-politician Hema Malini, is a serving BJP MP from Mathura.

Speculation is rife that actor Urmilla Matondkar could also make an entry into politics and fight the Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat on a Congress ticket. In 2004, actor Govinda had trounced BJP heavyweight Ram Naik in this seat, earning the title of “giant killer”.

Quoting sources, news wire IANS said her name was in “an advanced stage of consideration by the party leadership” and an announcement was likely shortly. If nominated, Matondkar’s formidable rival would be the BJP’s incumbent MP Gopal Shetty.