Congress and Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena(MNS) have turned out to be strange bedfellows in making Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan as their common target. The reasons,however,are different. The Congress has gone hammer and tongs against Bachchan for becoming brand ambassador of Narendra Modi-ruled Gujarat. Raj,chief of MNS,has trained his guns on Bachchan while targetting his estranged uncle's party - Shiv Sena - over its campaign against Shah Rukh Khan in connection with his comments lamenting the exclusion of Pakistani cricket players from IPL. Raj wondered why Bachchan was not targeted by Shiv Sena for sharing dais with an actor from the neighbouring country while it attacked Shah Rukh for speaking in favour of Pakistani players. "Recently,Amitabh Bachchan shared dais with Pakistani actor Zia Mohyeddin in a media-sponsored programme. But the issue was not raised like that of Shah Rukh Khan," Raj has termed Bachchan's behaviour as his "duplicity". Bachchan is part of a peace initiative aimed at promoting good ties with the neighbouring country. He has faced criticism in the past from MNS which accused him of ignoring Maharashtra where he earned name and fame. Congress General Secretary B K Hariprasad has slammed Bachchan for becoming the brand ambassador of Gujarat,accusing the actor of misusing his celebrity status for money. Hariprasad,who is in-charge of party affairs for Gujarat,also made some sarcastic references to the star. Recalling that Bachchan had earlier been brand ambassador for Uttar Pradesh which had "brought electoral disaster" for the then ruling Samajwadi Party there,Hariprasad sarcastically said it could be Modi's turn now. AICC Secretary Rajiv Shukla,who is party's coordinator for Gujarat,also shared Hariprasad's sentiments and disapproved of Bachchan's action. Bachchan and his family had been closely associated with the first family of Congress,the Gandhis and had been a Congress MP for a while in the eighties due to the persuasion of the late Rajiv Gandhi. But the ties soured sometime back. Expelled Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh,who has always been projecting himself as part of Bachchan's family,has however defended the megastar's decision. Singh mentioned in his blog: "Bachchan had gone to meet the Chief Minister Narendra Modi and not the RSS worker Narendra Modi,for promoting his film 'Paa'. If Modi asked him to promote Gujarat then what is the harm in it". In a recent letter to the Gujarat government,Bachchan has accepted Modi's invitation to work as the "brand ambassador of Gujarat state." He will promote tourism in Gujarat as its brand ambassador.
