When Raj Babbar defeated Dimple Yadav, his 'chotti behan', in Lok Sabha polls

Actor-turned politician Raj Babbar is looking for a comeback in electoral politics with the battle for Gurgaon. The Congress candidate is pitted against incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Rao Inderjit Singh in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.

Babbar is a three-time Lok Sabha member, who has represented both the Samajwadi Party and the Congress in the House.

But, his first brush with politics was in the late 1980s, when he campaigned for former Prime Minister VP Singh-led Janata Dal in Allahabad.

Soon, he caught the attention of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, as he worked among riot victims post the Babri Masjid demolition.

The story goes that Netaji approached Babbar, invited the actor to return to his native Uttar Pradesh, and campaign for the newly formed Samajwadi Party. Babbar campaigned for almost a month in 1993 for the UP Assembly polls.

He was rewarded with an SP-backed Rajya Sabha seat the very next year, when he was elected unopposed to the upper house.

Babbar's debut Lok Sabha contest was in 1996, when he was pitted against BJP veteran, and later Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Lucknow. Babbar lost, of course.

But the Samajwadis fielded him, once again, in the 1999 general election. Babbar defeated three-time BJP MP Bhagwan Shankar Rawat in his hometown Agra, and retained the seat for a second term in 2004.

His dream run in the SP, however, did not last very long. Babbar was suspended over differences with general secretary Amar Singh, who he accused of promoting 'broker culture' within the party.

The actor-politician joined the Congress in 2008.

Babbar then managed an unexpected victory in Mulayam's backyard. He defeated the SP supremo's daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav in the Firozabad constituency by a margin of 85,000 votes. He thereby secured a third consecutive term in the Lok Sabha in 2009.

That was his last big win in electoral politics. He lost from Ghaziabad against General (Retired) VK Singh of the BJP in 2014. Babbar was nominated to the Rajya Sabha from Uttarakhand two years later. But again, in 2019, he lost against BJP's Raj Kumar Chahar from Fatehpur Sikri.

Can Babbar turn around his fortunes this year? Faced with 'son of Haryana soil' Rao Inderjit Singh in Gurgaon, 'outsider' Babbar hopes his 'accountable civic bodies' pitch will resonate with the urban electorate.

The Gurgaon Lok Sabha seat will go to polls in the sixth phase on May 25.