Glamorous Gul ends hectic campaign

There was no stopping this Bollywood star and former Miss India during her marathon election campaign that concluded yesterday.

Gul Panag, or Gulkirat Kaur Panag as she insists on calling herself these days, is the Aam Admi’s surprise candidate from Chandigarh. Panag’s candidature was announced at the last minute as AAP’s initial choice Savita Bhatti, wife of popular actor the late Jaspal Bhatti, pulled out of the race in early March. But the Panag surprise did not end there.

In order to make up for lost time and the paucity of party campaign funds, the actress went on maximum overdrive as she visited every part of the city, even nearby villages that are not considered a sizeable vote-bank.

Waking up in the wee hours, Panag made it a point to hit the campaign trail early and after a high-octane blitz retire only past midnight. She walked, jogged, rode a Royal 350cc Royal Enfield bike, guzzled 25 cups of tea a day, mingled with people at food joints and even chew ‘paan’ (betel leaf) to listen and deliver her party’s “message of hope”. Even in the last lap of her campaign on Tuesday, Panag conducted roadshows and rallies covering over 20 sectors.

“Her throat has been badly affected due to speeches and raising slogans. However, as it was the last day, she managed to use all her energy for covering more than 20 sectors in a day,” AAP’s campaign manager Dr Munish Raizada is quoted as saying. Gul has credited her unflagging energy to her marathon running and to the vision of Arvind Kejriwal, the chief of the Aam Aadmi Party, which fired up her enthusiasm. “I’ve known Arvind (Kejriwal) since the Commonwealth Games and we kept meeting on different platforms. He showed me that it’s possible to be the change you want to see,” she states. Every bit the daughter of a retired army general, Gul has travelled to various parts of India and abroad, but she insists on being a Chandigarh native as she studied in the city and her family has been here since 1965. “For me, the decision to join AAP was part-party, part-Chandigarh. The city has excellent infrastructure, yet there are glaring inequalities in every sector,” she has reportedly stated.

But Panag is up against the seasoned politician and four-term Congress MP Suman Kumar Bansal. She has also been involved in a feisty twitter spat with her rival BJP contestant and fellow Bollywood star Kirron Kher. The row began when the former Miss India had tweeted: “Doubt if I’ll have the ene¬rgy to run around like this and serve my people when I’m 60. I guess that’s why there’s normally a retirement age.” At this dig, the veteran actress retorted, “I think retirement should be decided by people whe¬ther they can mentally and physically handle something. You have 25-year-olds who are bimbos and you have 60-year-olds who are brilliant.”

Whether Gul Panag, the former Miss India and Bollywood star, becomes a member of parliament is anyone’s guess, but there is no denying that this Chandigarh lass brought a lot of glamor and energy to this year’s elections. “We have done our best, and now people have to decide,” Panag gasps at the end of her marathon campaign.

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