Bengaluru: Prakash Rai/Raj got a newer and a larger platform to express his views candidly against BJP and other right wing organisations a week after a leading coastal Kannada daily “Udayavani” discontinued his popular weekly column. The daily justified its action of discontinuing Rai’s column claiming it was a routine exercise and had nothing to do with his ideology.
Veteran actor in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi, Prakash Raj hit the headlines for his strong views on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP in public sphere and social media.
His statements, tweets, speeches and columns triggered big controversies pitting him against the right wing.
Prakash Rai was writing a popular column “Iruvudellava Bittu” in “Udayavani”, a leading 50 years old Kannada daily based in Dakshina Kannada. published by the Manipal group, has six editions including Mumbai, where it has a huge following. Following the developments, a furious Prakash Raj then took to Twitter to blame the “invisible hand” behind it and vowed to come back.
“Prajavani”, the largest circulated and highly influential Kannada daily announced that it was going to publish his columns soon which made an elated Rai to express his joy on Twitter.
Editor-in-Chief of “Prajavani”, commenting on their decision to publish Rai’s column, said that actor Prakash Raj had approached them and they were happy to give him a platform as he is an erudite person and a rare personality.
“As we maintain an independent editorial stand, we are happy that he has come forward to write for us. We are providing a better platform to the highly popular film actor and a very well-read person with a huge fan following,” he added.
