Sunny Deol is the third in his family to take the plunge into politics after Dharmendra and Hema Malini
Actor Sunny Deol, a newly-elected BJP parliamentarian who has started his political career with some controversy, received advice from his father Dharmendra in a tweet this morning that urged him to "learn something" from Bhagwant Mann, a lawmaker of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Dharmendra, a veteran actor who was also a BJP parliamentarian in the past, refers to Bhagwant Mann's "sacrifice" in the post, which was in response to photos of Sunny Deol tweeted by a user.
The user, Sunny Thacker, had posted a photo of the actor at the Mumbai airport with the comment -- "looking so dashing". This drew the baffling comment from Dharmendra.
"Sunny, my son try to learn something from my son like Bhagwant Singh Maan, MP from Sangrur. What a sacrifice to serve mother India? Jeete raho Maan, bahut, bahut maan hai mujhe aap par (I am proud of you)," Dharmendra, 83, wrote.
It was left to Twitter to try and figure out what he meant and why he chose Bhagwant Mann, who has had his fair share of controversies.
Sunny Deol joined the BJP weeks before the national election and was fielded from Gurdaspur in Punjab, a constituency held earlier by filmstar Vinod Khanna. The 62-year-old actor defeated Sunil Jakhar of the Congress by more than 77,000 votes.
The start has been rocky. Sunny Deol has been accused of "outsourcing" his parliamentary duties by naming a representative to take care of his constituency.
Sunny Deol, who was promptly trolled by critics, especially the Congress, said it was "extremely unfortunate to see a controversy being created out of nothing at all."
The actor is also among those celebrity lawmakers who have, so far, registered below 50 per cent attendance in parliament. He has attended only five of 13 days.
Sunny Deol, who starred in "Border" a 1997 movie about Indian soldiers defending an Army post against Pakistani counterparts, also invited criticism after confessing he did not "know much about issues like Balakot strikes or India's relationship with Pakistan".
Sunny Deol is the third in his family to take the plunge into politics. His stepmother Hema Malini is also a BJP lawmaker.