Akshay Kumar and Rishi Kapoor in contention for Vinod Khanna's Lok Sabha seat?

New Delhi: After the death last week of actor-turned-BJP MP Vinod Khanna, the Gurdaspur seat in Punjab needs another Bollywood name to represent it in Parliament. The BJP is working on finding the “right person”.

A source from the BJP pointed out: “It is not a Rajya Sabha ticket. Who-ever stands must be able to win and that too after the Punjab Assembly election did not really go in BJP’s favour.”

No BJP heavyweight from Delhi was in Mumbai at the prayer meet for Vinod Khanna on Wednesday.

Among the names being tossed around is that of Akshay Kumar. “He has a clean image and has been doing a lot of patriotic movies in the recent past. He is the new age Mr Bharat,” was the contention of the leader who proposed Akshay Kumar’s name.

Rishi Kapoor is being considered, but he “talks too much on Twitter, though he will be good for the masses. Besides, there has been no one from the Kapoor family in politics and it is high time someone does,” according to one viewpoint.

Both Akshay Kumar and Rishi Kapoor have supported several of the causes espoused by the Centre. In particular, Akshay Kumar’s suggestion led to the CRPF starting a website featuring information of its martyrs so that donors could help them out.

Raveena Tandon, Sonu Nigam and Sunny Deol are also being discussed, but the BJP does not just want a crowd puller. They want someone who can win.