Bengaluru: Actor-activist Prakash Raj, who had on January 1 announced he will enter politics, has now revealed the seat from where he will contest the 2019 general elections.
In a tweet, Raj thanked people for the warm and encouraging response to his political entry and said he would contest the Lok Sabha elections from Bengaluru Central as an independent candidate.
#2019 PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS.Thank you for the warm n encouraging response to my new journey.. I will be contesting from BENGALURU CENTRAL constituency #KARNATAKA as an INDEPENDENT..will share the Details with the media in few days..#citizensvoice #justasking in parliament too... pic.twitter.com/wJN4WaHlZP— Prakash Raj (@prakashraaj) January 5, 2019
He said he would give out more details in the next few days and ended his tweet with the hashtag ‘citizens voice in Parliament’. The tweet was also accompanied by an image of the actor along with the 8 assembly constituencies that come under the Bangalore central parliamentary constituency.
In Bengaluru Cental, Raj could be up against BJP’s PC Mohan, who had defeated the Congress candidate with over 40,000 votes in 2014. Mohan has held this seat since 2009 when Bangaluru central was carved out from Bengaluru north and south after the delimitation process.
Raj had in a tweet on January 1 announced that he would contest the polls as an independent. The actor has been vocal about his reservations with the Narendra Modi government, especially since his close friend and Kannada journalist Gauri Lankesh was murdered allegedly by Right-wing members.
He had also campaigned for former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah in the Karnataka assembly elections held in May.
The actor, who is popular in Bollywood as well as the Tamil, Kannada and Telugu film industry, travelled across Karnataka before the election to speak out against the growing right-wing fanaticism.
His announcement on Twitter was received positively, with most comments congratulating the actor and wishing him luck in his political career. Within an hour of putting out the tweet, it received over 1,000 likes.
Raj's entry into politics will be closely watched as he follows in the footsteps of his contemporaries. While Kamal Haasan has already formally launched his political party, Rajinikanth is yet to form a separate political identity.
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