Former international cricketers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag may be BJP's face in Delhi for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. As the party prepares to finalise its list of the contenders, there are rumours that Gautam Gambhir Virendra Sehwag may be in contention for the seven seats, the New Indian Express reported.
There is no official confirmation yet from the ex-Indian cricketers on whether they would join the political bandwagon, however, the assertions made by these sportspersons on social media over various political issues does indicate the same.
Delhi may go the polls in the first phase, hence the various contesting parties are finalising their list of candidates. There are reports of student leaders from Delhi University, ex-MLAs of Aam Admi Party as well as municipal councillors holding talks with BJP's Delhi president for contesting the elections.
BJP may even ask its sitting MPs from Delhi to contest Lok Sabha polls from the neighbouring states to give the sports celebrities and other popular persons tickets, according to the report.
Ever since Gautam Gambhir retired from the international cricket last year, there are rumours doing the rounds that the former batsman may soon join BJP since he has always been an open critic of Arvind Kejriwal's AAP.
Today's newspapers seemed to me a "Mall Of Kejriwal" with @AamAadmiParty advertisements splashed all over. Is this the taxpayer's money being splurged callously? Can someone from his office or @AamAadmiParty explain? And we thought CM didn't have money to contest elections!!! pic.twitter.com/gJig0F06yu
— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) February 23, 2019
Celebrities- a current favourite of political parties
Apart from the sportspersons, there were also reports of Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Pune on a BJP ticket. Similarly, some rumours of Kareena Kapoor Khan contesting Lok Sabha polls for Congress has also emerged.
Political analysts opine that big parties such as Congress and BJP are trying to cash in on the popularity index of celebrities which will help them win the elections even as a majority of the Bollywood stars and sportspersons have distanced themselves from politics in the country.
