The saffron brigade on Sunday decided to field reluctant Hardeep Puri — sitting Rajya Sabha MP and the Union Minister of State — from Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency.

The BJP kept on hold the announcement of its candidates for the remaining two seats it contests in alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab.

Puri, in the past, had reportedly expressed his reluctance from contesting the polls and insisted on continuing as Rajya Sabha member from Uttar Pradesh.

His name was announced amidst reports that the BJP is planning to add star power to its campaign by either fielding actress Poonam Dhillon, cricketer Harbhajan Singh, or even Bollywood superstar Sunny Deol from Amritsar.

However, it is believed that the party’s national president Amit Shah’s meeting with Deol was for Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat, from where the yesteryears superstar Vinod Khanna won four times and had been the Union Minister too.

The party is also considering the names of Khanna’s widow Kavita Khanna or his actor son Akshay Khanna from Gurdaspur.

BJP, which has announced its first candidate for Punjab on Sunday while all other parties’ election campaign is in top gear, has changed its strategy after the rivals, especially the Congress, played their horses and fielded the sitting MP Gurjit Singh Aujla.

Earlier, the BJP was considering to field Dhillon or Harbhajan from Amritsar constituency assuming that the Congress may field a heavyweight just like the previous polls.

After Congress announced Aujla’s name, BJP started looking for a suitable Sikh face, and the race was between Puri and local senior leader Rajinder Mohan Singh Chinna — who had unsuccessfully contested 2017 bye-elections against Aujla.

At one point of time, the party was even proposing or recommending the names of party’s new entrant Harinder Singh Khalsa — Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) former leader and Fatehgarh Sahib MP, and Nirpreet Kaur — one of the key witnesses in 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases against Congress leader Sajjan Kumar — from Amritsar.

It has also been learnt that the BJP has made up its mind to replace its sitting MP and Union Minister Vijay Sampla who is facing stiff opposition within the party, especially in his constituency.

To replace Sampla, BJP has shortlisted the names of its sitting Phagwara MLA Som Parkash, and local

leader and Dalit face Rajesh Bagha.

The party surveys have favoured Som Parkash, who lost 2009 general elections to Congress’ Santosh Chowdhary by a slim margin of 366 votes, as its Hoshiarpur candidate over Sampla.

Parkash, who has been two-time MLA from Phagwara, is a retired bureaucrat who had served as Hoshiarpur Deputy Commissioner for many years, and is in the know of the issues of the district.

Presently, the BJP has a negligible presence in Punjab with just one parliamentarian in the Lok Sabha, and three legislators in the Vidhan Sabha.

The party has been on a constant lookout for a strong and winnable faces,

especially a Sikh leader, that could help it make a comeback in Punjab after May 19 elections.

Earlier, the cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu was holding the fort for the party.

But since he moved on to join the Congress party, BJP was virtually left in the lurch.

At the time when the nation was swept by Prime Minister Narendra Modi wave in 2014 polls, BJP won two seats in Punjab, out of the total three it contested in alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

However, the number came down to just one after it lost 2017 Gurdaspur by-election.

During 2017 State assembly elections, the party could secure just three seats, out of total 23 it contests in

alliance with Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)registering a dip of 12 percent votes in its

share in previous assembly elections.