Prakash Rai to contest from Bangalore Central

Multi-lingual actor-activist Prakash Rai on Saturday announced that he will contest the Lok Sabha polls from Bengaluru Central constituency as an independent.

On January 1, Rai had stated that he will enter politics and decide on the constituency soon. In a tweet on Saturday, Rai thanked the people for the “warm and encouraging response” to his decision to test political waters.

In Bangalore Central, Rai, who is known for his anti-BJP stance, could be up against sitting MP BJP’s P C Mohan, who had defeated the Congress candidate Rizwan Ahmed with over 40,000 votes in 2014. The actor has been vocal about his reservations with the Narendra Modi government, especially after Kannada journalist Gauri Lankesh was murdered.