Sunny Leone deserves respect as a mainstream actress: Hardik

Sunny Leone has found a supporter in Patidar quota leader Hardik Patel who today said she deserved respect, irrespective of her past, like any other Bollywood actress.

"Why can't we view Sunny Leone as an actress on screen independent of her old image? What's the problem if we look at her the way we look at actresses Nargis, Sridevi, or Madhuri Dixit. If our thinking is such that we still want to see Sunny Leone on the basis of her old image (as a porn star), then this country can never change," Patel said while responding to a query on his views on the actress during a press conference here.

Patel had reportedly spoken in favour of the actress in the past as well.

He was in the city to announce a 'yatra' he would be embarking on next month across Madhya Pradesh to create "awareness" among voters.

The quota leader said Leone deserves respect as a film actress.

Responding to a query, Patel said the BJP was "greedy" for power.

He expressed apprehension that no elections would be held in the country after 2019 if Narendra Modi becomes Prime Minister again.

When asked about the basis of his apprehension, Patel said, "The way the BJP leader B S Yeddyurappa was given the opportunity by Karnataka governor to form government despite lacking numbers, it appears that preparations are on to discard the Constitution in the country.