Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Oct 9 : “If an actor wants to return his awards, he should not accept it in the first place,” Union Minister Sadananda Gowda said on Sunday while referring to Prakash Raj's remarks against Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi.

“Prakash is not a fool to return his five national awards,” Gowda added.

Prakash Rai hit the headlines recently after calling out PM Modi for following people celebrating journalist Gauri Lankesh's murder and expressed his desire to return the awards.

“Gauri Lankesh's killers have not been caught yet. But what is more disappointing is people celebrating her murder over social media and spreading hatred. Some of these people who celebrated her murder are followed by our PM on Twitter. We have a PM, who shuts his eyes to this,” Prakash Rai had said.

Rai has also been chosen to receive a new award Dr Kota Shivaram Karanth Huttara Prashanth to recognise of his contribution to cinema.