Actor-turned-BJP nominee Kirron Kher on Thursday visited former MP Harmohan Dhawan at the latter's residence in Chandigarh apparently to seek support for her candidature, but failed to win over the sulking leader.
Kher's nomination from the Chandigarh Lok Sabha segment had stock resentment among some local BJP leaders, prominent among them are Dhawan, party district unit president Sanjay Tandon and two-time former MP Satya Pal Jain.
Though Tandon and Jain have fallen in line after initial resentment, Dhawan is yet to come out in support of Kher whom a section of leaders and workers has branded as "outsider".
Despite opposition from a section of the party, Kher who faces Pawan Bansal of Congress and Gul Panag of Aam Aadmi Party at the hustings, continued to put up a brave face to get rid of the "outsider" tag.
Early in the day, Kher, along with Tandon and Jain, went to the city's Sector 9 residence of Dhawan to placate him.
However, Dhawan reportedly refused to accompany her in the campaign trail yet.
Asked about Dhawan's absence, the BJP candidate said, "He is unwell so we went to meet him at his residence... He got photographs clicked with us." She exuded confidence that Dhawan will also fall in line and support her nomination.
Dhawan, a former Janata Dal MP from the city and a former Union minister, however kept his cards close to his chest. Asked about his future plan, he said he would decided his next course of action after a meeting with his supporters tomorrow.
Dhawan, who has considerable clout among the weaker sections of the society, switched over to the Om Parkash Chautala-led Indian National Lok Dal in 2004.
He contested the 2004 Lok Sabha polls unsuccessfully by getting only 17,762 votes and finishing behind sitting MP Pawan Kumar Bansal (Cong) and Jain (BJP).
Later, Dhawan joined the BJP and hoping for a party ticket this time.
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