God will decide on best man to become PM: Salman Khan

Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, who attended a kite flying festival here Tuesday along with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, said god would decide who is the best man to become the prime minister.

Salman, who was here to promote his upcoming film "Jai Ho", spent the afternoon with Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Modi at the festival.

"God will decide who is the best man for the country. May the best man win. The best man of the country for all of us and for India should be the PM of this country," the actor told reporters.

"Modi saab should be able to fulfil his destiny," he said.

Salman praised Modi, applauding him as "a good man in politics". "Modi saab is a good man. I like him as he can work for the progress of the country and society," he said.

He said in his home constituency (Mumbai), Priya Dutt (Congress MP) and Baba Siddique (Congress MLA) are the best people. "If you feel Modi saab is the best, vote for him," he urged.

On his personal opinion about Modi, Salman said: "Today, I met Modiji for the first time. I hope we meet often. Modi is a great man and he is doing great for his state and I wish him all the very best in life."

"I have not seen this sort of development elsewhere," Khan said. "Development of any nation is important. I hope people of every state love their chief minister like you do," he said when people cheered him and Modi.

When persuaded by reporters to say more on his PM choice, Khan said that he is a film actor and has limited knowledge about politics, so he would say the least to avoid being dragged into a controversy.

The actor said his father, script-writer Salim Khan, often refers to Modi at home.

Celebrating the festival of Uttarayan in which people fly kites, Modi told mediapersons: "Salman's arrival in this festival will add new colours to the celebration. I welcome him and wish everyone Makar Sankranti and Pongal."

He added that the film personality's presence at the festival would boost tourism in the state.

Earlier, the chief minister hosted a typical Gujarati lunch in which the Bollywood hero savoured the winter speciality "Undhiya" and other delicacies of the state at his Gandhinagar residence.

The two then flew kites for the benefit of the large number of photojournalists and people who had assembled in a ground in Ghatlodia area of Ahmedabad.

Salman was recently in the news after he performed at the Saifai festival organised by the Uttar Pradesh government even as people were dying from severe cold in the Muzaffarnagar relief camps.

The ruling Samajwadi Party in the state also received a lot of flak for spending crores of rupees on the event.

A few other people from the film world have also been associated with Modi and Gujarat. Ajay Devgn set up a 25 MW solar power plant in 2012 through a joint venture at Charanka village in Patan district while Amitabh Bachchan is the brand ambassador of Gujarat Tourism.