A host of Bollywood, Tollywood, and TV actors are joining and switching political parties, ahead of the assembly elections 2021. Here are some prominent names:
West Bengal Assembly Polls
Ahead of elections, BJP has a long list of actors-turned-politicians such as Mithun Chakraborty, Locket Chatterjee, Roopa Ganguly, Babul Supriyo, Manoj Tiwari, Srabanti Chatterjee, Paayel Sarkar, and Hiran Chatterjee who are going to be campaigning for the party.
Mithun Chakraborty
Chakraborty became a popular name in Bollywood but he has also seen all shades of politics.
Once considered close to late CPM transport and sports minister Subhas Chakrabarty during the Left Front regime, the actor later joined Trinamool Congress and was nominated by the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC to the Rajya Sabha in 2014.
The ‘Banglar Chele’, who recently joined the BJP, will campaign for Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram, who has been fielded as Mamata’s opponent in a fierce face-off.
Elections in West Bengal will be held in eight phases starting from March 27. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.
Tamil Nadu Assembly Polls
Kamal Haasan
Veteran actor turned politician and chief of Makkal Needhi Miam Kamal Haasan has announced that he will fight the upcoming Tamil Nadu polls from the Coimbatore South constituency. He made the announcement while releasing his party’s second list of candidates.
Vijayakanth
He was the Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from 2011 to 2016. Before entering politics Vijayakanth was a successful film actor, producer, and director. Vijayakanth is also the current DMDK chairman of the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly.
Just days before the polls, Vijayakanth-led Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) pulled out of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) – Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance.
Meanwhile, popular actor and veteran comedian Senthil joined the BJP.
In recent years, several popular actors have joined the saffron party in Tamil Nadu. Gautami, Kushboo Sundar, Radha Ravi, Namitha, Gangai Amaren, S Ve Shekhar are among the names from the cine industry.
The Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu will take place in a single phase on April 6 and the results will be announced on May 2.
Kerala Assembly Polls
Kerala People’s Party Chief and actor Devan, along with actor Radha and former bureaucrat KV Balakrishnan on Sunday, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Kerala State BJP chief K Surendran and ‘Metro Man’ E Sreedharan.
The state of Kerala is all set to go for polls on April 6. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.