Amitabh Bachchan becomes political football in Congress-NCP feud

The one-upmanship between the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has landed actor Amitabh Bachchan in an unsavoury political controversy.    

The Congress is viewing the invite to the actor to the inauguration of the north carriageway of the Bandra-Worli sea link as a ploy of the NCP to embarrass chief minister Ashok Chavan, even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday sought to score a few brownie points by snubbing the Congress.

Inside the Congress, too,  there is some churning. What has irked party leaders is that Bachchan is the brand ambassador for the Narendra Modi-led Gujarat and shares an uncomfortable relationship with the Gandhi family. In Uttar Pradesh, not long ago, Bachchan had openly supported the Samajwadi Party (SP), a bitter rival of the Congress, and addressed rallies for them. His wife, Jaya Bachchan, is a member of Parliament, representing the SP.
Congress general secretary and media in-charge Janardhan Dwivedi said in Delhi that the party was aware of what happened in Mumbai and the CM had already given a clarification in this regard and nothing more was required.   

“So far as the presence of Amitabh Bachchan is concerned, of course, party workers are a bit angry but there is nothing personal about it. Recently, Bachchan has identified himself with Narendra Modi so openly that it was natural for the party workers to be upset,’’ he said.

The BJP, meanwhile, has issued a strong statement. “The Bandra-Worli sea link is the property of the country not of a single party, and if an icon of the stature of Amitabh Bachchan has been invited to be part of the dedication ceremony, we don’t see why there has to be this uproar,” he said.

Bachchan himself sought to downplay the incident saying he made it to the function as he had been duly invited. He also blamed the media for making a mountain out of a molehill. The chief minister tried to put up a cool face saying, “Bachchan, who happens to be a cultural figure, was invited by the officials who organised the event.”

While state PWD minister and NCP leader Jaidutt Kshirsagar has confirmed that he had invited Bachchan for the function without keeping Chavan in the loop.  He also mentioned that Sachin Tendulkar had been invited but could not attend because of cricket schedule. The party is also using fissures in the Congress to pin down the chief minister.

Insiders disclosed, “The NCP may have played the trick, but it was the Mumbai Congress leaders who were ready to play the role of messenger. They reported the incident immediately to party high command Sonia Gandhi in Delhi.” It is no secret that a section within the Congress is also waiting to dislodge Chavan by repeatedly drawing the centre’s attention to his blunders.

“As the chief minister, he should have known that his cabinet colleague had invited Bachchan as a special guest. This could be purposeful mischief on the part of the NCP, but the CM should have known what his cabinet colleague was up to,’’ said a senior Congress leader from the state.

From Bachchan’s blog
On BWSL: I had been invited by the minister in the government to attend and so I went along. A fresh controversy has been rapidly manufactured on my involvement in today’s event on the sea link. But of that some other time and space.

On Gujarat: What would I be doing in Gujarat that could possibly be of adverse interest to the polity, politically... You want to stop me from promoting tourism in a state, because you have reason to believe that there are political connotations to the event. This is such rubbish! You take umbrage at my association with Gujarat, but never have the guts or courage to stop a Ratan Tata, or an Ambani from investing in the state and running successful factories and ventures there.