Miss Bikini India 2018 and UP Congress candidate Archana Gautam on her viral bikini pictures: 'Don't mix my professions'

Ahead of the upcoming UP assembly polls, a controversy has sparked up over the actress-model Archana Gautam, who is set to begin her political career by contesting the elections as a Congress candidate for Meerut's Hastinapur seat. She joined the Congress in 2021, and after her name was announced as one of the 125 candidates for the UP polls, her bikini-clad pictures started making rounds on the internet. Now, the model has reacted to the controversy and urged people not to mix two professions. In a conversation with a news portal, Archana said, 'I represented India in Miss Bikini 2018. I was Miss Uttar Pradesh 2014 & Miss Cosmo World 2018. I request people not to merge my professions in the media industry with my political career.' Notably, after winning the title of Miss Uttar Pradesh in 2014, Archana Gautam became the Miss Bikini India 2018 and also represented India at Miss Cosmos World 2018, where she won the title of Most Talent 2018. In the same conversation, she also stated that if she wins the elections, her main focus will be on the development work and promotion of tourism. 'Hastinapur is a tourist place and there are a lot of ancient temples here but people are not able to come because of the connectivity problem. After becoming an MLA, my priority will be to build a bus stand and a railway station. If tourism gets a boost, more tourists will come and people will get employment', said Archana. On the work front, Archana made her Bollywood debut in the year 2015 with the film 'Great Grand Masti'. Post that, she has featured in several films like 'Haseena Parker', 'Baaraat Company' and 'Junction Varanasi'. She is currently filming various Tamil and Telugu films and also making her way into the music industry by featuring in videos like 'Dynamite', 'Nasha Zyaada' and a Punjabi song, titled 'Buggu Oye'.