Karnataka polls: Bagepalli Muslims will vote for BJP, says P Sai Kumar

BENGALURU: “While watching a movie on screen, the audience does not connect the actor to his or her caste or religion. People only relate an actor to the character they portray. I have done Muslim characters in many movies and people from the community have appreciated me for those roles. As a BJP candidate, I am confident of winning Muslim votes from Bagepalli,’’ said actor P Sai Kumar while speaking of his chances in the assembly polls.  

As a candidate of Bagepalli, Sai Kumar, who is known as “Dialogue King,” said his main focus will be on drinking water, road connectivity, eradication of unemployment, provision of better education and addressing woes of farmers.

He filed his nomination papers at Bagepalli  on Tuesday.  With a Masters in Public Administration from Presidency College, Chennai, the actor will fight it out with sitting MLA Subbareddy (Congress) and C M Manohar, a movie producer, who is contesting from JD(S). A large population here speaks Telugu, as it borders Andhra. Naidus, Reddys, Balijas, and Muslims form the bigger part of Bagepalli residents. What matters, the actor said, for a candidate contesting in the rural area, is a combination of prevailing conditions. “There is an anti-Congress wave as people have seen that the candidate did not do enough development work in the area,” he said.    

Sai, 58, is also an in-demand dubbing artiste and TV host. In 1996, Sai Kumar’s Kannada movie ‘Police Story’, which was also dubbed in Tamil and Telugu became a blockbuster. It was in 2004 that he joined the BJP.

His mother Krishna Jyothi, also an actor, hails from Bagepalli. “She moved to Chennai for acting where she met my father Pudipeddi Jogeswara Sarma, and they got married. I was born and brought up there. Later, we moved to Andhra. Whenever my mother visited Bagepalli, she used to express a desire to develop the place. She used to tell she wanted us to do something for her native. She died in 2006,’’ he said.

“In 2008, when the assembly polls came up,  I expressed my wish to contest from Bagepalli and the party obliged. I lost the election by a small margin. Later, I was not that active in politics for personal reasons. In 2013, when the BJP split, I joined the BSR Congress. During the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, I campaigned for Narendra Modi in Karnataka, Andhra and Tamil Nadu. I am a big fan of Modi and nurture high hopes from him,’’ he said, going on to add, “This time, party workers and others wanted me to contest from Bagepalli.”

Sai Kumar has moved to Sadashivanagar from Hyderabad. Of his movie commitments, the actor says he finished all his movies to contest the election. “I am free from all movie commitments at present. My full time and focus is on Bagepalli. I will not take up movies at least till May 15. After the election result, whether I lose or win, I shall continue acting,’’ he added.