Gambhir holds roadshow in Amritsar, Puri not in picture

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 15

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) East Delhi candidate and former cricketer Gautam Gambhir on Wednesday visited the city to show support to party candidate Hardeep Singh Puri.

Ironically, neither Puri, in whose support Gambhir came, nor BJP state president Shwait Malik nor any known face of the party leadership attended the subdued roadshow.

Sources said the mismanagement and negligible support from the party left Gambhir upset and the route of the roadshow was curtailed. The sources said the roadshow was to cover a distance of at least 15-20 km from Guru Nanak Dev University, but was culminated midway after just 4 km near Chheharta gurdwara.

Defying it, Malik said, “I had prior commitments with Puri’s campaigning, so we could not participate in Gambhir’s roadshow.”

Amritsar, which is supposed to be one of the hot seats, has somewhat witnessed a low-profile campaigning this time, irrespective of the party line, in comparison to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Now, Deol to visit city today

The BJP has now scheduled party’s Gurdaspur candidate Sunny Deol’s roadshow in Amritsar on Thursday to boost Hardeep Singh Puri’s campaigning. Deol had received an overwhelming response during his roadshow in his constituency, leaving the Congress baffled, which has fielded its state president Sunil Jakhar against him. Sources said on May 17, Hema Malini too was likely to visit Amritsar.