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A successful Bharatnatyam dancer and Bollywood's evergreen 'Dreamgirl', Hema Malini, who became a BJP MP in 2004, says that she got "more respect" as a member of parliament than being an artiste. “You get more respect as a member of parliament. As an artiste, I had my own dignity, but as a politician it increases... It doesn’t go down,†Hema, who represents the Mathura constituency in Lok Sabha, told media in interview. Recently, Hema was embroiled in allegations that she had illegally grabbed a plot of land for her dance academy Natyavihar Kalakendra Charity Trust at a nominal price of Rs.70,000 in Mumbai's Andheri area. But the Padma Shri awardee says the whole hullabaloo happened because she was a BJP MP.