GURDASPUR: Every hero needs a heroine, and a dream entry. For the BJP's Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat candidate and one-time star, Vinod Khanna, this has come in the form of Hema Malini. Addressing rallies here on Sunday, the one-time ``dream girl'' described Khanna as an honest person who always stood by his words, and appealed to the voters to re-elect him. As people jostled to have a look, she also asked them to vote for the Akali-BJP alliance to strenghthen the hands of Atal Behari Vajpayee. ``We need just one vote of yours to enable Vajpayee to form the next government,'' she stressed.Khanna himself talked about the Rs 2.12 crore he had ``spent on various developmental works in Gurdaspur district from the Constituency Development Fund''. A survey is being done for the construction of a bridge over river Beas in the area, the sitting MP, who has had a poor showing in Act I, added. Now, if only it would get Khanna across troubled waters.

SAMBALPUR: Kanshi Ram isn'thaving the best of time with elections. Last time, he got a slap in the face from voters, and on Sunday, they almost booed him and his leaders off stage. The first BSP poll meeting in Orissa, at Burla near here, turned into an embarrassment when a section of the crowd started shouting slogans against state unit president Akhyay Mallick the moment he got on to the podium. Kanshi Ram had to intervene to pacify the agitated crowd, and he did so by denouncing the actions of some of his own party workers in his speech. Assuring the gathering that he would return, he then hurriedly rounded up the meeting.

FARIDKOT: Sikh panth de tin gaddar -- Mann, Tohra, Jagmeet Brar reads the slogan on the wall of a government school in Mahuana, near Lambi, in the Faridkot Lok Sabha constituency. Next to it is another one -- Sukhbir Leao, Jagmeet Gappi Bhajao. And Mann, Tohra and Jagmeet Brar are not amused.Taking offence at the ``demeaning'' slogans -- which can be seen scribbled on many a wall in this area,including Badal village -- All India Shiromani Akali Dal president Gurcharan Singh Tohra has decided to make a formal complaint to the CEC. Speaking over the phone, he said he did not know whose handiwork it was but he would demand an inquiry by the EC to ``unearth the conspiracy''.