"We are all rooting for his victory," PM Modi tweeted along with the picture.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met actor Sunny Deol in New Delhi today and posted a picture with him on Twitter, days after the 'Border' star joined the ruling BJP. Along with the photo, PM Modi also referenced the actor's period drama film "Gadar" with the famous dialogue "Hindustan Zindabad tha, hai, aur rahega."
"What struck me about Sunny Deol is his humility and deep passion for a better India. Happy to have met him today. We are all rooting for his victory in Gurdaspur. Hindustan Zindabad tha, hai, aur rahega," PM Modi wrote with a picture of them smiling and shaking hands.
The actor-turned-politician has been declared the party's candidate from Gurdaspur, Punjab. It was the constituency of veteran actor Vinod Khanna, who died in 2017. For some time, there was speculation that the BJP may field his wife Kavita Khanna or son Akshaye Khanna from there.
Sunny Deol joined the BJP this week, days after he met party chief Amit Shah in Pune. In his speech after being formally inducted to the party, he had said, "Like my father joined Atal Bihari Vajpayee, I have decided to join Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I want PM Modi for the next five years."
The 62-year-old actor is the third member from the Deol family to join politics. His father Dharmendra had a brief tryst with politics in 2004, when he contested national elections for the BJP from Bikaner, Rajasthan and won. His stepmother Hema Malini is contesting elections from Uttar Pradesh's Mathura.
An actor with a huge fan base, Sunny Deol is known for his roles in films like 'Border', 'Gadar', 'Ghayal', 'Damini' and others. His dialogues like "dhai kilo ka haath.. " and "tareek pe tareek.." have resonated with people across years. His last film "Mohalla Assi" was shot in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency Varanasi, where he portrayed a volunteer participating in the campaign for a Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Punjab will vote in a single phase, on May 19, the last day of the seven-phased national election. The results of will be announced on May 23.