Vinod Khanna with then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi during the 2014 Lok Sabha campaign in Pathankot (Express archive) Vinod Khanna with then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi during the 2014 Lok Sabha campaign in Pathankot (Express archive)Veteran actor and producer Vinod Khanna, who also had a successful stint in politics, passed away at the age of 70 earlier Thursday. Along with Shatrughan Sinha, Khanna was one of the first Bollywood actors to be associated with the BJP in the 90s. Khanna joined the BJP in 1997, and contested and won elections from the Gurdaspur constituency in Punjab in the Lok Sabha polls in 1998. He was re-elected from his Gurdaspur constituency in 2004. However, he lost his seat in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, only to be elected again from his old constituency in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls during the Narendra Modi wave.

Source: Indian Express April 27, 2017 07:04 UTC