Had warned AAP about ‘flirting’ with Khalistanis: Gul Panag

Indian Bollywood actress Gul Panag poses for a photograph at Lakmé Fashion Week (LFW) Summer Resort 2018 in Mumbai on January 31, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / -

Actor and one-time Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate and campaigner Gul Panag on Saturday said she had warned the party against associating with Khalistan separatists during the Punjab Assembly elections in 2017.

Ms. Panag was replying to a tweet that alleged that the AAP was “clearly seen romanticising Khalistanis” when she came out against the “flirtation”.

“Poorly calculated flirtation that was. One I warned against. Repeatedly. It’s because they didn’t ‘get’ or ‘understand’ Punjab. Thought the K gang had electoral weightage. All of us from Punjab, knew better. But alas!,” she tweeted.

Another Twitter user then asked her if the underlying message of her statement was that if Khalistanis had electoral weight, then it would have been acceptable.

“No, the message is - no one in Punjab cares about Khalistan. Not even the ‘fringe’,” she replied.

Requests for comment from several AAP functionaries, including AAP national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and spokesperson Ashutosh, yielded no response.