Kangana Ranaut, a Hindi film actor who became a Member of Parliament from Mandi, Himachal Pradesh in 2024, has now said that politics is a “very expensive hobby.” This statement comes days after Kangana said that she implied that she was not enjoying her work as an MP as people are coming to her with “panchayat-level problems.” In the new interview, Kangana said that as an MP, one can’t make much money so they need to have a day job to run their household. When asked if she expected to be a part of the cabinet of ministers in Lok Sabha, Kangana said that she “expected to get a portfolio.”
In a chat with Times Now, Kangana said, “I always say that politics is a very expensive hobby.” As the interviewer questioned her on using the word “hobby,” she responded, “Obviously. If you are an MP, you can’t have it as a profession because you need a job. if you are an honest person.” She added that she came from a “successful career” as an actor and added, “I understand that whatever salary you get here to maintain your cook and driver, what you are left with is actually just Rs 50,000-60,000, that’s your salary as an MP.” The salary of an MP in India is roughly around Rs 1.24 lakh.
Kangana said that if she has to visit any part of her constituency with some staff members, and has to travel with them in cars, “the expenses are in lakhs because every place is at least 300-400 kms away. You must understand that it is a very expensive hobby. You need a job. A lot of MPs have businesses, they are working as lawyers.”
She then said that even those who “have come before me, like Javed Akhtar ji, they kept doing their work, you got to work.” Javed Akhtar was a Rajya Sabha MP from 2010-2016. He was nominated by then-President Pratibha Patil in the field of Arts.
Kangana was also asked if she expected to become a minister in the party and get a portfolio in 2024 and the actor said that after her contributions, she believes she should have gotten a ministry. “The kind of profile that I come from, I am a filmmaker, writer, author. I also have the fourth highest civilian honour, I am a Padma Bhushan. So in that context, I just felt that I have done a lot for the party and I have also won a very difficult seat. It was a very long campaign for me because my voting was also in the last phase so I expected to get a portfolio. I thought I should have got it.”
In 2024, Kangana declared assets worth Rs 91.5 crore, as she filed her nomination with Rs 28.7 crore in movable assets and Rs 62.9 crore in immovable assets.
