Shiv Sena activists furious after Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar takes pot shots at the party for making him the brand ambassador for BMC drive against open defecation
Salman Khan
ADVERTISEMENT
While the civic polls are barely a month away, the differences between political allies BJP and Shiv Sena only appear to be widening. This time, the parties are at loggerheads over Sena’s decision to make Salman Khan the brand ambassador of BMC’s drive against open defecation.
Several Shiv Sena activists tagged Ashish Shelar on tweets, which showed Salman Khan visit PM Narendra Modi to show his support to the Swachh Bharat campaign
While alluding to Sena’s thoughtless plan of keeping penguins at the Byculla Zoo and Khan’s involvement in the chinkara poaching case, BJP city president Ashish Shelar on Friday said that those who killed a penguin were now backing a person who killed a chinkara in Rajasthan.
Shelar’s remark immediately sparked a huge furore on Twitter with angry Sena activists trolling the BJP president all through Saturday. Sena workers also posted a photo of Khan and PM Narendra Modi, where the actor was seen supporting the BJP’s Swachh Bharat Mission.
Vaibhav Tulaskar, a Sena activist, who had posted the photograph of Khan and Modi on Twitter, also tagged Shelar in the tweet, saying: “@ShelarAshish arda orda karnya peksha himmat asel tar @narendramodi ji na vichar @beingsalman sobat swachta abhiyan ani patang ka udavat hota.” (Ashish Shelar before commenting on our plans, please ask Narendra Modi why he asked Khan to be part of the Swachh Bharat campaign).
Several other Sena activists also posted similar photographs and trolled Shelar for his comment.
Defending his statement, Shelar told mid-day, “I am not against the actor. Khan is free to meet anyone, but neither the state not the Centre has appointed him as the brand ambassador for any mission.”
On December 17, Khan was officially announced as brand ambassador of the open defecation free campaign at the BMC head office.
According to sources, Yuva Sena's local party member had convinced Khan to join the campaign. The actor had also donated five mobile toilets to the BMC and offered to promote the drive.
The BMC elections will be held in February. While saffron allies Shiv Sena and BJP have been ruling the BMC for the last 15 years, political sources suggested that the recent tensions might affect the alliance.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
