Jaya Prada Says She Thought Of Suicide After Morphed Pictures Went Viral

Jaya Prada was expelled from the Samajwadi Party in 2010.

Actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada said she contemplated suicide several years ago when morphed pictures of her were circulated on social media. She also spoke of her ties with expelled Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh whom she considered her "godfather".

"Amar Singh was on dialysis and my morphed pictures were being circulated in the region. I was crying and saying I don't want to live anymore, I want to commit suicide. I was going through that trauma and no one supported me," Jaya Prada was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. She was speaking at the Queensline Literature Festival in Mumbai.

She said people would continue to talk her and Amar Singh even if she tied him a rakhi. "Only Amar Singh ji, who came out of his dialysis, stood next to me, supported me. What will you think of him? Godfather or someone else? Even if I tie rakhi to him, will people stop talking? I don''t care what people say," she said.

Jaya Prada, a two-time parliamentarian from Uttar Pradesh's Rampur, was expelled from the Samajwadi Party in 2010 along with Amar Singh after he had a fallout with Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Jaya Prada, 56, also claimed that she received threats from Samajwadi Party legislator Azam Khan.

"Even as a sitting MP (Member of Parliament) from a party, I wasn't spared. Azam Khan harassed me. He attempted an acid attack on me. I had no certainty if I would be alive the next day. I would tell mother while leaving the house that I wasn't sure if I would ever return home. I emerged out of it," she claimed.

Azam Khan is the legislator from Rampur and a bitter critic of Amar Singh.

Jaya Prada said she got no support from Mulayam Singh Yadav. "Mulayam Singh ji didn't even call me once," she said as she recalled her removal from the party. Jaya Prada said it is a "real war" for a woman to be a politician in "this male-dominated set-up."

"Whatever they are showing in the film Manikarnika, I feel I was like that. A woman can also take the avatar of goddess Durga," she said.

After being expelled from the Samajwadi Party, she formed her own party - Rashtriya Lok Manch - along with Amar Singh. The party fielded a number of candidates in 2012 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, but none won.

Amar Singh was recalled to the Samajwadi Party in 2016, but was sacked after Akhilesh Yadav took over the party.

Both the leaders still have bitter ties with Azam Khan.

Recently, Jaya Prada said the character of ruler Alauddin Khilji reminded her of Mr Khan. In October last year, Amar Singh filed a police complaint against Mr Khan for allegedly threatening his daughters with acid attack.

(With inputs from PTI)