Actor Prakash Raj sends legal notice to BJP MP for 'trolling'

BENGALURU: Multi-lingual actor Prakash Raj today said he has sent a legal notice to BJP MP Pratap Simha seeking an apology for "trolling" him in the social media. The national award winning actor said he would sue Simha if he did not apologise within ten days. "People who are open to power are shamelessly trolling. I have sent him (Simha) a notice that he has to reply to my queries. I have questioned his act of trolling. I have asked him to answer legally, if he doesn't I will be taking criminal action against him," Raj told reporters here.

Simha on Oct 2 tweeted flaying the actor for questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence over those "celebrating" the killing of activist-journalist Gauri Lankesh here.

Alleging that the comments against him had been made with a malafide intent to affect his reputation, family ties and personal life, the actor urged Simha to delete the Facebook posts and tweets about him. Raj said he was thinking of claiming monetary damages too for "soiling" his reputation and "hurting" his sentiments. He said there was nothing personal or political about it and expressed hope BJP would restrain Simha from posting such comments.

When asked about his "double standards" in not questioning Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah when RSS and BJP members were killed, Raj said, "Many people were saying this to me that I should have started (questioning) before. Yes, I was late in starting, but better late than never." He said it did not show which political ideology he supported. "...but I am very very clear which political ideology I am against ...I am not saffron," Raj added.