Cong U-turn: Sharing dais with Big B okay

Making a turnaround on Big B,the Cong said it had no objection to any of its leaders sharing a dais with him.

Making a turnaround on Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan,the Congress on Thursday praised him as a very good actor and said it had no objection to any of its leaders sharing a dais with him. This came even as Union Minister of Heavy Industries Vilasrao Deshmukh said in Khargone on Thursday that he would not share a dais with the actor.

Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed said here that the party had not asked any of its leaders to stay away from Bachchan. Who has asked Congress leaders not to share a dais with Bachchan in any function? It is being exaggerated, he told reporters.

After a section of Maharashtra Congress had objected to Chief Minister Ashok Chavan sharing the dais with Bachchan at a public function last week,AICC media department chairman Janardan Dwivedi had justified party workers criticism against Bachchan saying that he was brand ambassador of Gujarat and they had moral right to criticise him. A few days later,the party had further raised the tempo asking the actor to clarify his stance on 2002 riots in Gujarat and Narendra Modi governments role in it.

Shakeel Ahmed said some Congress leaders were unhappy that Bachchan had become brand ambassador of Gujarat whose Chief Minister Narendra Modis name is associated with the most reprehensible massacre there. Those who do not like this do not go (to share dais with Bachchan),but nobody has been asked to do so by the Congress, he said.

The ruling partys volte face on Bachchan came as the realisation dawned on the party leadership that the Congress versus Modi debate was getting converted into a Congress versus Bachchan debate,which could boomerang on the party given the actors fan following across the country.

Actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar saw nothing wrong in Bachchan being brand ambassador of Gujarat. Amitji is very professional and a very big star. He goes to those places where he sees any advantage. I do not think there should be any controversy in it, said the Firozabad MP.

Talking to reporters at Khargone in Madhya Pradesh,Deshmukh said he would not share dais with Bachchan as long as he is the brand ambassador of Gujarat.

Sonia,Rahul not behind attack on Bachchan: Amar

Story continues below this ad

In the lookout for a new political shelter,expelled SP leader Amar Singh indicated on Thursday that he was maintaining utmost caution against attacking Congress despite instigations.

In his latest blog entry,on the row relating to the Congress and Amitabh Bachchan,he wrote,Some (of my) friends believe that it is an unnecessary controversy created at the behest of a certain person to instigate me to attack Congress by trapping me in my affection towards Bachchan.

That he has been maintaining caution in his utterances towards the Congress came into display at a recent function in Pune when he defended Bachchan but clearly refrained from attacking the Congress for its campaign against the superstar for becoming the brand ambassador for Gujarat Tourism at the behest of Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

In fact,in his blog entry,Amar Singh went a step ahead by praising Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and absolving them of any role behind the Congresss campaign against the actor.

Story continues below this ad

Personally I have full faith in Sonia Gandhi and Rahul and I believe that this can never be done by them, Amar Singh wrote. I have interacted on several occasions with the Congress top leadership due to political reasons,(in my evaluation) the priorities and the context of their (Sonia and Rahul) personality have no trace of a mentality or tendency to hound a person.

Justifying his praise for Sonia and Rahul,he cited that it was the Congress-led government that awarded Amitabh Bachchans daughter-in-law,actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan,with a Padmashri.