After several weeks of local campaigning within a specified area of a group of voters, Popular actor Prakash Raj on Friday filed a nomination as an independent candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2019. He filed his nomination from Bengaluru Central constituency accompanied by scores of supporters fans and media persons.
The 53-year-old Prakash Raj established his campaign officially back in January and has been carrying out padyatras, walking tours and also small meetings with groups of constituents to know his territory well.
Addressing media and the public, he said, “National parties like BJP and Congress have failed the people. I would like to be the voice of the people.”
It has been learnt that Raj will be contesting from the seat against BJP’s outgoing MP PC Mohan, who also filed his nomination from the Bangalore Central seat on March 22. Meanwhile, the Congress is yet to announce their candidate from one of the four Bengaluru Lok Sabha seats.
Speaking to The Quint, when asked if his entry into politics would break anti-BJP votes in Bengaluru Central constituency, Raj said, adding that Congress should not field a candidate at all.
“Yes, that is true, this is when the Congress and JD(S) alliance should think because, for the last decade and a half, they have not won this constituency. They have not been able to win the constituency because of various reasons, which they clearly know. Because of numbers, because there is so much infighting, there is so much appeasing and saying that they will put a candidate from one particular community.
But we need to think of the nation. And it is important for them to realise that they have to failed to win the seat and they let me (contest) – somebody who will win the seat and somebody more secular gets the seat, because it is not just that I am going to eat up or split the votes of the Congress-JD(S) combination.”
