ON poll-eve in 1998, Sukhbir Singh Badal was asked why he thought he'd win the Faridkot Lok Sabha seat. "I'm young and handsome and the ladies will vote for me," he said, without batting an eyelid. That response wasn't as flippant as it sounded; Sukhbir was not-so-subtly distancing himself from the traditional image of the salwar-clad, kirpan-wielding, lushly-bearded Akali.