JOIN USActors, singers, sportsmen add to LS celebrity list
An Odiya superstar emerged victorious in Naveen Patnaik's prestige battle, a Marathi TV actor who essayed Shivaji's role, an actor with "dhaai kilo ka haath", a cricketer who was part World Cup-winning squad and two young actresses from West Bengal are part of the celebrity brigade in the new Lok Sabha.
There around two dozen such MPs, including those who have left the world of arch lights and makeup to become full-time politicians, in the upcoming Lok Sabha while three -- Olympian Rajyavardhan Rathore, cricketer Gautam Gambhir (both BJP) and footballer Prasun Banerjee (Trinamool Congress) -- shed the floodlights in stadia.
Tamil Nadu, where politics was determined by stars once and where Rajni Kanth still can bring it to stand still with a gesture, has not sent a star but five writers of excellence -- from Akademi winner Su Venkatesan (CPI-M), Kanimozhi, Tamizhachi Thangapandian and D Ravikumar (all DMK) and S Jothimani (Congress). Ravikumar even published two books between the day of polling in Tamil Nadu and counting of votes.
It may be not apt to call BJP's Smriti Irani just a celebrity MP now as she is in politics for the past 15 years but the giant killer who defeated Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Amethi leads the pack.
Another giant killer is Odiya superstar Anubhav Mohanty, who trounced BJP's Baijayant Panda in a prestige battle in Odisha's Kendrappara. A Rajya Sabha MP, Mohanty was chosen to take on Panda, who left BJD, by Patnaik as he instructed his party leaders and cadres that he would take nothing else but the deserter's defeat.
One cannot also ignore actress Sumalatha, who entered the electoral battle after her husband's death and denial of the ticket by the Congress-JD(S) coalition. She trounced former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda's grandson and Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's son in the battle with BJP support.
Most of the celebrity MPs came from West Bengal -- five actors, a singer and a former footballer. If superstar Dev and actress Shatabdi Roy, former footballer Prasun Banerjee (all Trinamool Congress) and singer Babul Supriyo (BJP) are returning to Lok Sabha for another term, two young actresses Nusrat Jahan Ruhi and Mimi Chakrabarty (both Trinamool Congress) and Locket Chatterjee (BJP) are the new entrants.
Besides Irani, UP has chosen 'Dream Girl' Hema Malini once again while also adding Bhojpuri superstar Ravi Kishan to the Lok Sabha. However, another Bhojpuri superstar Dinesh Lal Yadav 'Nirahua' lost to Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav.
With his "dhaai kilo ka haath" (hand weighing two-and-half kg), BJP's Sunny Deol from Punjab's Gurdaspur will be another attraction. He will be sharing the benches with Hema Malini, who his father-actor Dharmendra had married later. From Punjab, comedian Bhagwant Singh Mann (AAP) has also won again.
Maharashtra has two MPs -- Opposition-backed independent MP Navnit Ravi Rana, a former Telugu actress, and NCP's Dr Amol Ramsing Kolhe, who essayed the role of Shivaji on TV.
From Chandigarh, BJP's Kirron Kher has also won. In Delhi, besides Gambhir, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari, a Bhojpuri actor and singer, and Sufi singer Hansraj Hans also add to the celebrity list.
Among those who have been defeated or did not contest this election among sitting MPs are Shatrughnan Sinha, Moon Moon Sen, Innocent, Paresh Rawal and Tapash Pal among themselves.
Sinha, who was not on good terms with BJP, had fought the elections this time on Congress ticket. Innocent, a Malayalam actor who fought the 2014 polls as an independent backed by the Left, was fielded as a CPI(M) candidate but he did not win.
Paresh Rawal (BJP) and Tapash Pal (TMC) did not contest while Sen was defeated by Supriyo in Asanol.