I have old association with Mathura, says Hema Malini

IANS/New DelhiBollywood actress Hema Malini, who is making her maiden foray in the Lok Sabha elections as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Mathura, yesterday said her association with the holy land of Krishna is almost two decades old.“I have been associated with Mathura for almost 20 years. Whenever I come to Delhi, I always go to Mathura and Varanasi. I am a devotee of Krishna, so when the BJP asked me to contest from Mathura, I was very happy,” the 65-year-old actress said at a press conference here.“If I win, with the grace of Lord Krishna, I would clean the Yamuna river. There are many things to be done in Mathura, and cleanliness is another issue I would like to address,” she said.Dressed in a white sari, the ‘Dream Girl’ emphasised the need to clean rivers for balancing the ecosystem.In Mathura, Malini is pitted against Rashtriya Lok Dal’s general secretary Jayant Chaudhary, the son of party chief and Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh.The actress, who has given memorable performances in movies like Sholay, Seeta aur Geeta, Satte pe Satta and Baghban was also member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of parliament, between 2003 and 2009.Her husband, Bollywood actor Dharmendra, too has been actively involved in politics, serving a term in the 14th Lok Sabha (2004-09) after being elected from Rajasthan’s Bikaner on a BJP ticket.In the past, the actress has campaigned for fellow Bollywood actor Vinod Khanna, but she refused to share any details about her campaigning plans.“This is all I have to say about my plans for Mathura,” she said.