Be it Kaka’s marriage proposal to Dimple Kapadia on their flight from Ahmedabad to Mumbai or his contesting in the parliamentary by-polls in 1996 as a Congress candidate, Bollywood’s first superstar Rajesh Khanna had a special relation with Gujarat. He was the son-in-law of Gujarat’s Kapadia family.
Khanna had contested from Gandhinagar constituency in the 1996 by-poll, which was held after Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who had won from both Lucknow and Gandhinagar constituencies, resigned from the Gandhinagar seat. Khanna had contested against BJP’s Vijay Patel in the by-polls. However, he lost against Patel. Despite his defeat, Khanna visited Gujarat on several occasions on election campaigns and other tours.
Khanna was the star campaigner for Congress and he was elected as a Lok Sabha MP from New Delhi in 1992. Congress leaders from the state including Ahmad Patel, political advisor to Sonia Gandhi, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee president Arjun Modhwadia, leader of the opposition in the assembly, Shaktisinh Gohil, chairman of Congress campaign committee Shankarsinh Vaghela have paid rich tributes to the departed actor. In a release, the GPCC leaders acknowledged Khanna’s contribution to the party as a people-centric popular leader.
