Lok Sabha: Hema Malini takes oath as MP from Mathura, shares challenges in pilgrimage city

Speaking about the problems faced by people in her constituency, Hema Malini said, "Mathura is a religious tourism center and people from all over the country come in. Lakhs of people pour in here every day. It is becoming difficult to manage them."

Actor-turned-politician Hema Malini took oath as the Member of Parliament for Mathura for the third time in a row on Tuesday. Speaking about the problems faced by people in her constituency, Hema Malini said, "Mathura is a religious tourism center and people from all over the country come in. Lakhs of people pour in here every day. It is becoming difficult to manage them."

"We have developed the city so well that people are getting all kinds of benefits and so more people are coming in. So there is more pressure on us to do even better," she added. On other problems faced by the tourism centre, the BJP leader said, "There are problems like dealing with monkeys, the Yamuna and managing the crowd that comes in."

She said that she is supporting NDA's candidate Om Birla for the post of Speaker, the election of which is slated to be held on Wednesday. "I want Om Birla to be elected as he was excellent and he managed very well in the past five years," she said.

Hema Malini won the Mathura constituency in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections by defeating Congress' Mukesh Dhangar by a huge margin of 2,93,407 votes. Malini (75) garnered 5,10,064 votes. Congress candidate Dhangar and BSP candidate Suresh Singh received 2,16,657 and 1,88,417 votes respectively. Hema Malini also won the seat in 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Efforts by the BJP's top leadership to reach a consensus on the Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha came to nought when the INDIA bloc decided to nominate 8-time MP K Suresh for the post.

His nomination followed the filing of nomination by BJP's Kota MP Om Birla for the same position. Birla previously served as the Speaker in the 17th Lok Sabha. This will be the first time that elections are held for the Speaker of the lower house, as traditionally the Lok Sabha Speaker and Deputy Speaker have been elected by consensus between the ruling party and the opposition.

Earlier, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that they had informed Rajnath Singh that the Opposition is prepared to support NDA's Speaker candidate, on the condition that the Deputy Speaker position is given to the opposition. (ANI)

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