Hema Malini's dance performance won heartfelt praise from Union Minister Sushma Swaraj.
BJP lawmaker Hema Malini today said that she has been given the "green signal by higher-ups" to contest from Mathura, which had elected her to parliament in the last Lok Sabha elections. "I have started work on those lines," she added.
Ms Malini then went on to list the developmental activities she has taken up in her constituency, the foremost among them being the ongoing "modernisation" of the Mathura Junction railway station. "Railway officials are doing a wonderful job on that," she told reporters after inaugurating various projects at the station.
The former actress also said that she would request Railway Minister Piyush Goyal to introduce a train between Mathura and Lucknow. "This will benefit pilgrims coming from eastern Uttar Pradesh," she added.
Agra Divisional Railway Manager Ranjan Yadav said the railway station was being modernised at a cost of Rs 20 crore. "Work towards installing escalators, two lifts, foot overbridge at Baad station and solar panels, besides renovating waiting rooms and widening the entry at Gate Number One, are being taken up at a cost of Rs 8 crore," he added.
Last week, Ms Malini had presented a 90-minute dance performance aimed at spreading awareness on the Ganga river at Varanasi. The event -- which was part of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention-2019 -- portrayed the mythological origin of the holy river before going on to show how it is getting polluted in this day and age.
The performance won heartfelt praise from Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. "I don't have words about your performance. For the first time ever in my life, I am taking three words from famous TV shows for your performance - Adbhut, Avishwasniya and Akalpaniya," she said.
Ms Malini had defeating incumbent Jayant Chaudhary of the Rashtriya Lok Dal by a margin of 3,30,743 votes in 2014. She polled 5,74,451 votes against Mr Chaudhary's 2,43,884 in the Mathura parliamentary constituency.
(With inputs from PTI)