Manoj Kumar, Apra Mehta join BJP

The stars continued to shine on the Bharatiya Janata Party with a saffron bandanna sporting Manoj 'Bharat' Kumar formally joining the party.

"I have been a member for a long time but only now I am signing up my membership form," he told reporters in the presence of Law Minister and party spokesman Arun Jaitley.

Kumar is well-known for basing his films on patriotic themes. He had met Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani on Sunday.

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Asked why he was supporting the party when the subject of most of his films - farmers - continued to suffer, he said a breeze of 'India Shining' has blown their parched lands. "It is only a sample and soon it will overwhelm them," the veteran actor-director-producer said.

Another person to join the saffron party on Monday was Apra Mehta. The Gujarati stage actress who is best known for her performance as saans (mother-in-law) in the popular television serial popular Saans Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi followed her bahu (daughter-in-law) Smriti Irani into the party.

Balbir Chand, a senior IPS officer of the Bihar-Jharkhand cadre, who took voluntary retirement from service in February, has also joined the party.

Senior Bihar BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi and Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Bhavnabehn Chikalia were also present on the occasion.

Would you vote for a film star-politician?