After days of attacks on Amitabh Bachchan, Congress on Thursday praised him as a "very good actor" and claimed that the party had no objection to any of its leaders sharing dais with him.
Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed claimed that the party had not asked any of its leaders to keep away from Bachchan and some may themselves not be wanting to share dais with him because of his becoming the brand ambassador of Gujarat.
"Who has asked Congress leaders not to share dais with Bachchan in any function? It is being exaggerated," Ahmed said when asked whether party leaders have been asked to stay away from functions being attended by Amitabh Bachchan.
Only a few days back, there was a big controversy over Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan sharing dais with Bachchan at a state-government function for inauguration of a sea-link. Chavan had later claimed that he no information that Bachchan would be there.
Subsequently, the Congress leaders and spokespersons had launched attack on Bachchan, with Manish Tewari asking the film star whether he endorsed Modi's "role" in Gujarat riots of 2002 or condemned it.
Ahmed said "some Congress" leaders are unhappy that Bachchan had become brand ambassador of Gujarat whose "Chief Minister Narendra Modi's 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... Those who do not like don't go but those who like will go," he said. PTI
