Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar has denied rumours that he is in contention for fighting by-elections on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket for the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency in Punjab. The Lok Sabha seat fell vacant when the sitting BJP MP, actor Vinod Khanna died of cancer last week. “Absolutely not true,” is how 49-year-old Akshay reacted when we asked him if there’s any truth in reports that he may be set to join politics. “I don’t know where these reports are even coming from. I am shooting near Mumbai for my film Padman, blissfully away from the rumour mills,” adds Akshay.
News websites were abuzz since Wednesday evening, first with reports that late Vinod Khanna’s wife, Kavita, or son, actor Akshaye Khanna, may be given the ticket by BJP to contest from the Gurdaspur LS constituency, and then with rumours that the names of Akshay Kumar and Rishi Kapoor are now in contention. When contacted, actor Rishi Kapoor refused to comment on the speculation.
Akshay Kumar, who won the National Award for Best Actor in Delhi on Wednesday, is currently in news for supporting several social causes, including setting up a crowd-funding platform bharatkeveer.gov.in with the Ministry of Home Affairs, to facilitate financial aid to the families of martyred soldiers.
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