Cobrapost exposes Bollywood celebs ready to tweet propaganda for cash

Bollywood and politics have often been accused of being strange bedfellows In a development that sent shockwaves across the industry yesterday investigative website Cobrapost alleged that nearly three dozen Bollywood stars were willing to secretly promote political parties on social media in exchange for cash Dubbed as Operation Karaoke the sting operation mdash videos of which were made public online mdash saw the reporters reach out to various celebrities posing as managers from a fictitious PR agencySunny Leone Rs 75 lakh per month 90 per cent in cashThe operation that was apparently conducted last year saw Sunny Leone Vivek Oberoi Sonu Sood Shreyas Talpade Padma Shri awardee Kailash Kher and Mika Singh among others agreeing to accept their fee in cash in exchange for posts on Facebook Twitter and Instagram endorsing the Central Government BJP and other political parties The messages were to be shared over a period of eight months in the runup to the general electionsVivek Oberoi Rs 80 lakh per month 85 per cent in cashTalking to midday Cobrapost editor Aniruddha Bahal said that the idea germinated early last year The reporters came up with the idea as they were listening to a lot of anecdotal evidence regarding this phenomenonShakti Kapoor Rs 75 lakh per month 90 per cent in cashQuestion him why they didnt put Alist stars under the scanner he says We met them mostly through agents who had briefed actors beforehand So we went where the agents took us We werent targeting anybody The fees were fixed and nearly all of them agreed to a black money arrangement Many of them wanted money in advance before meetingRohit Roy Rs 30 lakh per month 90 per cent in cashVidya Balan Arshad Warsi Saumya Tandon and Raza Murad turned the offer downBaba Sehgal Rs 2 Lakh plus GST per tweetReacting to the news Sunny Leone said I am not campaigning for any political party unlike the news thatrsquos circulated talking about me doing soIn regards to discussion with anyone being a free citizen I am entitled to do so as I am approached weekly for many different agendas by many different people We engage and listen to everyone If I choose to promote anything political I would choose things I only believe in As of now I have not posted or expressed any political viewpoint as can be seen on my social media sicAniruddha BahalSonu Sood said What was discussed has been wrongly reproduced and projected This is a clear case of sabotage In the video too I had stated that I wonrsquot demean any party or promote anything which is not right or not true sicWhen contacted Koena Mitra she said Last April two men came home saying they were representing the central government and wanted to discuss an endorsement They said they got in touch with me since my posts are proBJP They wanted to pay me for endorsing BJP campaigns like Swacch Bharat Saaf Ganga and Beti Bachao When I said that I was doing it for free they said they wanted me on board officially and pay me for that Why wouldnrsquot I say yes to promote one of my favourite brands In the video they have edited their questions and retained only my answers They are trying to attack the PM and trying to prove that people who are supporting our PM are taking money They have created a script to malign the central government and us As told to Upala KBRAlso ReadSee Photos Farhan Akhtar and Shibani Dandekars romantic beach affairCatch up on all the latest entertainment news and gossip here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates