Internal Rebellion May Force Kannada Superstar Upendra to Quit His Own Party, Likely to Join BJP

Bengaluru: Kannada superstar Upendra, who wanted to upset political equations in the state assembly election, is facing a serious rebellion within his own party.

Many of his party colleagues have come out against him, calling him a dictator. There is also talk of him quitting the party, he founded a few months ago, to avoid further embarrassment.

According to sources, Upendra is likely to join the BJP on Tuesday by quitting or dissolving his party. His followers feel that he has already given enough hints and may finally go with Prime Minister Narendra Modi whom he idolizes.

Upendra had founded a political party called “Prajakeeya”, a few months ago. It was loosely based on the AAP ideology and had promised to weed out corruption and nepotism from the society. Ironically, on the very first day he had appointed his wife and brother to top positions in the party, upsetting many of his followers.

After the much hyped launch of the party, there was no activity at all, triggering a lot of speculation over his next move. Some had even stated that Upendra’s party launch was a gimmick and he actually had no interest in making it a political force.

On Monday, Shivakumar, vice president of “Prajakeeya” appeared before the media attacking his leader. Speaking to News18 he said that Upendra was behaving like a dictator and was busy promoting his wife and brother.

“Upendra may be a big film star. But he is acting like a dictator. He is not ready to take us into confidence. He says that all the tickets will be decided by him and listens to no one. He is putting family ahead of party. Elections are just two months away. We don’t even have a manifesto or action plan ready. We have questioned him on this. But he refused to react,” he said.

According to Shivakumar, there was a heated argument between many leaders and Upendra at his party’s national committee meeting two days ago.

Upendra’s spokesperson Anand said that all issues would be addressed by the superstar and there was no need for other leaders to go to media against him. Anand said, “Revolution won’t happen overnight. It takes time. Upendra is a revolutionary leader. These people must understand that. Election is not the only thing in which he is interested. He thinks beyond that.”

On Sunday, Upendra had tweeted that March 6th would be his Agni Pareeksha Day.