Ravi Kishan: BJP will set up Bhojpuri film city in Gorakhpur, if voted to power

Youths aspiring to take up a career in films won't have to go to Mumbai as the BJP, if voted to power, will set up a Bhojpuri film city here, the party's Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat candidate Ravi Kishan said Friday.

Kishan, a popular Bhojpuri actor, has been pitted by the BJP against Samajwadi Party's Ram Bhuwal Nishad from the seat. The Gorakhpur seat, which was considered a bastion of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, was lost to Praveen Nishad in a bypoll. Praveen had fought on a SP ticket with the support of the Bahujan Samaj Party, but last month joined the BJP.

"The MoU (memorandum of understanding) to set up a Bhojpuri film city in a 150-acre area with Rs 500 crores has already been signed by the state government," Kishan told reporters at the BJP's Beniganj office.

It will come up "in the heart of city so that youths can pursue their dreams of earning name and fame in the film industry," he said. Kishan exuded confidence that the BJP will win over 73 seats in the state and will register a "historical" win from the land of Baba Gorakhnath and Adityanath.

"I will serve the people of Gorakhpur by keeping the khanrau (wooden slipper) of Yogiji," he said. Kishan, a Brahmin by caste and an original native of Jaunpur with roots in Gorakhpur's Moonkhar village, said he would file his nomination papers after offering prayers at the Gorakhnath temple on April 23 and would be possibly accompanied by Adityanath.