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Actor Kangana Ranaut has been named as the BJP candidate from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi in the party’s fifth list for the Lok Sabha elections on Sunday. The BJP list also featured prominent faces including Naveen Jindal, Giriraj Singh, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Sambit Patra and Dharmendra Pradhan among others.
Hours after BJP announced the political debut of Kangana Ranaut, an old tweet of the actor made its way to social media sites in which she had said she wanted to fight election from a ‘state with complexities’.
Kangana’s comment was in response to a 2021 post on X (formerly Twitter) which claimed that she would be fighting the by-election from Mandi Lok Sabha Constituency.
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Responding to the social media post, Kangana said she was given the option of contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Gwalior, but she added that if she entered politics, she would want “a state with complexities” and “be the Queen.”
I was given the option of Gwalior during 2019 Loksabha elections, HP population is hardly 60/70 lakhs, no poverty/crime.If I get in to politics I want a state with complexities i can work on and be the Queen I am in that field also. Small fry like you won’t understand big talks.
— Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) March 17, 2021
“I was given the option of Gwalior during 2019 Lok Sabha elections. HP (Himachal Pradesh) population is hardly 60/70 lakh, no poverty/crime. If I get into politics, I want a state with complexities I can work on and be the Queen I am in that field also. Small fry like you won’t understand big talks,” Kangana posted on X.
Her comment has received a lot of social media response including backlash from netizens. Resharing the three-year-old post on X on Reddit, a person wrote, “Hypocrisy ki bhi seema hoti hai (There’s a limit to hypocrisy).”
“One thing you should know about actors and politicians – they always do the exact opposite of what they say in public,” another social media user wrote.
After Ranaut’s name was announced in the candidate list, she said in a post on X, “My beloved Bharat and Bhartiya Janta’s own party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), always had my unconditional support. Today the national leadership of BJP has announced me as their Lok Sabha candidate from my birth place Himachal Pradesh, Mandi (constituency).”
“I abide by the high command’s decision on contesting Lok Sabha polls. I feel honoured and elated to officially join the party and look forward to being a worthy karyakarta and a reliable public servant,” she said.
Kangana Ranaut, born to a Rajput family in a small town Bhambla in Mandi district, is an actor, filmmaker, producer and a four-time National Award winner.
There were speculations about Ranaut contesting Lok Sabha polls for quite some time. In October 2022, Ranaut had publicly said that she is open to contesting from Mandi if the BJP offers her a ticket.
The Mandi Lok Sabha seat is being represented by Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee president Pratibha Singh, who had won the by-election in November 2021.
