The controversy over sharing the dias with film star and Gujarat Tourism ambassador Amitabh Bachchan at the inauguration of the Bandra-Worli sealink has prompted Chief Minister Ashok Chavan to skip the concluding function of the All India Marathi Literary Conference in Pune tomorrow. The reason: Big B was also invited to the event.
Instead, Chavan opted to visit the literary meet today.
According to sources, Chavan was taken to task by the Congress party high command for attending the Worli-Bandra sealink event on March 24 with Bachchan.
With his presence at the meet, Chavan made sure to please the Marathi literary world and also follow the rich tradition of the chief minister attending the meet. At the same time, he toed the party line of maintaining distance from the Bachchans.
Chavan told the gathering that the state’s cultural policy would be in place from May 1, the foundation day of the state.
The Congress high command had conveyed its displeasure to Chavan for sharing the dias with Bachchan, more so as Bachchan was the brand ambassador for Gujarat, ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Narendra Modi. A Congress party spokesman had said earlier that it was the prerogative of the party to decide whether its members would attend functions with persons associated with Modi.
Congress leaders from Mumbai had also taken objection to this. The All India Congress Committee, however, backed the chief minister, maintaining at the same time that the anger of party workers was justified in view of Bachchan's association with Modi.
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray had come out in defence of the legendary actor and said he had done nothing wrong. “Amitabh hasn’t committed a crime by attending the event,” Thackeray said in an editorial in the party mouthpiece, Saamana.
Lambasting the Congress for “treating the actor as an untouchable”, Thackeray said, “Shah Rukh Khan, who took cudgels on behalf of Pakistanis, will do for the Congress, but it is allergic to Amitabh.”
