Prakash Raj to contest 2019 Lok Sabha elections

Actor Prakash Raj announced on Tuesday that he will be contesting in the 2019 general elections. He will be contesting in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls as an independent candidate.

"Happy New Year to everyone...a new beginning...more responsibility...with your support I will be contesting in the coming parliament elections as an independent candidate. Details of the constituency soon. Ab ki baar Janatha ki Sarkar," the actor said on Twitter.

Prakash Raj, who is known for his anti-BJP stance, is the third prominent actor after Rajinikanth and Kamal Hasan to enter politics in recent years.

He had earlier said that the kind of Hindutva that is propagated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cannot work in India.

"They (BJP) say I'm anti-Hindu No. I am anti-Modi, I am anti-Hegde, I am anti-Amit Shah. And according to me, they're not Hindus," Raj said on January 2018.

Raj had earlier courted



controversies for commenting on cow urine and cow dung. "You do not know about cows. You know about cow urine. If you want to wash your clothes, you need 1 kg cow dung and 2 litres of cow urine. You then need to mix all of this and wash your clothes. Why because, except for cow urine, you do not know anything else. So, do not give us this story," he said.

Raj's comments on cow dung and cow urine were not received well and an advocate in Bengaluru filed a complaint saying that the actor 'insulted the religious beliefs of Hindus, deliberately and intentionally, which hurt the emotions, feelings and sentiments'.

He was also trolled on social media for participating in a series of posts with #JustAsking where he questioned the BJP-led central government over several issues in India.

Raj had earlier claimed that Bollywood stopped offering him roles as he has been critical of the Modi government at the Centre.