BENGALURU: Kannada actor Upendra, who launched his yet-to-be-named political platform on Saturday, said elected representatives are neither servants nor kings. In fact, they are workers as they get paid from the money collected from people in the form of taxes, he said.
Upendra, called ‘Real Star’ by his fans, officially announced floating his own political party, through which he aims to initiate ‘Swaccha Sarkaara Abhiyan’ in Karnataka.
He said anybody can apply to be a member of his party, after which the candidates will be selected and then the party will contest the state Assembly election in 2018 from all the 224 seats.
Addressing a press conference at his resort on the outskirts of Bengaluru, he said, “The words raajakeeya (politicking), raajaneethi (politics) and raajakaarana (governance) do not reflect true democracy. These should have been replaced by prajayakeeya, prajaaneethi and prajakaarana and our party aims to practise the same. People are more important than elected representatives.”
“In a state like Karnataka, the budget is at least `1.75 lakh crore and this money comes from the public who pay taxes. It is with their money that salaries are paid to the pourakarmikas as well as the Chief Minister. But even then the public is called ordinary people while they are the ones who are extraordinary,” he said.
Looking for candidates
The party’s name and symbol will be announced after completing the formalities with the Election Commission, he said and asked the people to join him in his effort to clean up politics. “I want people to send across their problems and the possible solutions. We are also looking for candidates. We will pick them to contest in the Assembly 2018 election,” he said.