No Charm Without Substance, No Sunny Beyond 'Dialogue Delivery', Says Congress' Sunil Jakhar

Chandigarh: Congress candidate from Gurdaspur seat Sunil Jakhar Wednesday took a swipe at his political opponent and Bollywood actor Sunny Deol, saying the BJP nominee has not shown anything "beyond dialogue delivery" in films and his "charm without any substance" will fade away.

Jakhar, who is sitting MP from the Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency, also slammed 59-year-old Deol, saying he will prove to be a "misfit" in politics.

"So far, here he (Deol) has not shown anything beyond dialogue delivery and that is causing concern among voters here," he said.

"The charm can be sustained only with substance and charm without substance may not last long and will fade away in a couple of days," Jhakar said.

"Even cinema, owners change famous movies after some time and it also applies to real life also. People will say they have seen him (Deol)," he said.

The BJP sprang a surprise with nomination of Deol, a Jat Sikh, from the Gurdaspur constituency. Deol, who had won national film awards for films like 'Ghayal' and 'Damini', is pitted against sitting MP Jakhar, AAP's Peter Masih and PDA's Lal Chand in an electoral fight from the seat.

At the time of filing of nomination papers and at some public meetings, Deol had come out with dialogues like 'dhai kilo ka hath' from 1993 film 'Damini' and 'hindustan zindabad, zindabad hai, zindabad rahega' from 'Gadar' film to woo people.

Jakhar said former MP Vinod Khanna, other than acting, had some substance and that was why he lasted long in the constituency.

Khanna, who died in 2017, remained MP from the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat for four-times.

On Deol trying to speak Punjabi to connect with voters, Jakhar said he does not know the language.

"He could not even read Punjabi while taking oath (while filing nomination papers)," he said.

The Congress candidate asked Deol to share with voters what he knows about the national issues if he is not aware about the local issues here.

"I can understand he does not know about Gurdaspur issues. But he cannot say he does not know about inflation, unemployment, farm distress and other national issues. He can at least speak on these issues. We also expect him to disclose what vision he has brought," Jakhar told PTI.

Deol has refused to be involved in any discussion with Jakhar who had invited him to hold a debate on Gurdaspur issues to let people know which candidate is best for them.