Elections 2019: Kirron Kher faces fight from Congress and within BJP

Chandigarh The quintessential Mummyji of Bollywood movies is donning her motherly avatar as she has begun her over twomonth long electoral campaign to retain the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seatHaving been elected from here in the 2014 general election by a margin of nearly 70000 votes and defeating fourtime Member of Parliament MP and former Union Railways minister Pawan Kumar Bansal actorturnedpolitician Kirron Kher did well for her first political outing as the BJP candidateHailing from Chandigarh itself the 63yearold Kirron not only faces a tough challenge from the Congress but also from within the local unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party BJPChandigarh BJP President Sanjay Tandon and former MP from the Union Territory Satya Pal Jain are breathing down her neck as claimants for the BJP ticket Both were ticket aspirants last time also but Kirron managed to beat them downTaking a cue from the popular TV chat show Cofee with Karan of director Karan Johar in whose final episode she came as a jury member Kirron has launched her own localised version in Chandigarh with CofeeWithKirronNamoAgain is the future of India So is this lovely kid And all such sweethearts When you come for CoffeeWithKirron dont leave your kids behind MyCityMyPeople Kirrons Twitter handle states as she banks on the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and her own celebrity status to impress votersNone of the local top leaders have so far been seen campaigning with her Till the ticket is decided no one is ready to project her as the candidate even though she is the sitting MP a BJP insider in the city told IANS Kher is campaigning at her own level meeting advocates industrialists housewives youth children businessmen and several othersHer star status definitely gives her an edge but that might not essentially convert into votes Many people just come to see her and get selfies clicked Anjali a homemaker who attended one of Khers events told IANSBesides the citys sectors Kher will have to focus specially on colonies and rehabilitation houses where a big chunk of city voters live in the 114square km Union TerritoryBazurgon ke pyar aur aashirwaad se badi koi jeet nahi hoti MomentOfTheDay with MyCityMyPeople Kher tweeted recentlyShe is posting photos with local residents especially elderly voters and even with children to drive home the familytype feeling There are nearly 84000 elderly voters in the cityTandon whose group does not get along with Kher politically is holding his own Chai Pe Charcha at different venuesBoth leaders are not seen at each others functions Kher claims that she has done a lot of things for Chandigarh in the last nearly five years These include the recently sanctioned flyover from Tribune Chowk to Zirakpur to ease traffic allowing needbased changes in housing board flats and conversion of residential leasehold properties to freehold among other thingsThe nearly 62 lakh electorate of Chandigarh population of over 11 lakh will decide its next MP on May 18 Approximately 40000 new voters have been added since the 2014 electionsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates