Agencies
Mumbai, Apr 7:
Two days after an article in Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna criticised Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan, party chief Bal Thackeray on Monday sang a different tune calling Bachchan a "superstar of the entire country". "Amitabh is not just star of one particular state, but the superstar of the whole country. Hence it is improper to drag him into needless controversy of regionalism," Thackeray said in an editorial on Monday.
The Sena chief asked not to drag the actors into the 'son of the soil' controversy.
In a front page article two days back, Saamna had praised Tamil superstar Rajnikanth, who had his early life in Karnataka, for his stand on the Hogenakkal issue and said it had "dwarfed" Bachchan when it came to taking a firm position on issues relating to Maharashtra. Rajnikanth had joined protests by the Tamil film industry against Karnataka over the water issue, despite bring brought up in Karnataka and born in Maharashtra.
Thackeray, however, distanced himself from the remarks the same day saying they were not his views and that the actor was a family friend.
In the editorial, Thackeray made it clear that irrespective of what the Saamna article had said, he had high regards for Bachchan. "Amitabh Bachchan is our family friend. I have neither said anything against him nor written against him in the editorial. The hue and cry, which has been created by the media regarding the news in Saamna , is condemnable. Our relations with him are not so weak that it can be broken by electronic media news," Thackeray said in a statement.
The editorial also took a swipe at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati for "harassing" Bachchan by raking up trivial issues and said this "is worthy of contempt".
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