Rajinikanth meets Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav

Lucknow: A day after a "courtesy meeting" with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, veteran actor Rajinikanth on Sunday met Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav at the latter's residence here.

Rajinikanth, who is basking in the success of his latest film "Jailer", said he was happy to reconnect with Yadav, whom he called his friend, after almost a decade.

"Nine years ago, I had met Akhilesh at a function in Mumbai. Since then, our friendship has continued, and we talk over the phone. I had come here five years ago for a shooting, (but) Akhilesh was not there, and (I) could not meet him. He is here now and I met him," the 72-year-old star told reporters here.

He also said that his meeting with the UP CM on Saturday was "very good".

Yadav also shared a series of photos from the meeting with Rajinikanth via his account on X, formerly called Twitter.

"When hearts meet, people embrace. During my engineering studies in Mysore, the happiness I used to feel seeing Rajinikanth ji on the screen is still intact. We met in person 9 years back and have been friends ever since…" the SP chief captioned his post.

Earlier this week, Rajinikanth met his friend and Jharkhand Governor CP Radhakrishnan at the Raj Bhavan in Ranchi for a "courtesy meet". He also spent an hour meditating at the Yagoda ashram there.