Prakash Raj apologises on behalf of Kannadigas to Siddharth, whose press conference was disrupted by protesters: ‘Instead of pressuring political parties…’

Instead of questioning all the political parties and its leaders for failing to solve this decades old issue.. instead of questioning the useless parliamentarians who are not pressurising the centre to intervene.. Troubling the common man and Artists like this can not be… https://t.co/O2E2EW6Pd0

— Prakash Raj (@prakashraaj) September 28, 2023

The veteran actor often voices political opinions on social media, and recently found himself in a soup after posting a sarcastic cartoon about the Chandrayaan 3 mission. Bengaluru has witnessed several such disruptions in the recent past; comedians such as Kunal Kamra, Munawar Faruqui and Vir Das have all had shows cancelled in the city because of right-wing protests.

Siddharth was in Bengaluru to promote his upcoming film Chithha, and was forced to leave a press conference at the city’s SRV theatre by members of a pro-Kannada group. “We are fighting here and the Cauvery water is going to Tamil Nadu. And he is promoting the film, do you guys want this?” one protestor said. Siddharth thanked the media, and left the venue.

Several pro-Kannada organisations, farmer groups, and labour unions have called for Karnataka Bandh in protest against releasing Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu on September 29. The Cauvery is the main source of drinking water for the city of Bengaluru and for the irrigation of farmland in the Mandya region of the state.