Sting operation: B-Town celebs respond to allegations of promoting political parties for money

Investigative platform Cobrapost claimed on Tuesday to have exposed 36 Bollywood personalities who agreed to promote any specified political party on their social media accounts ahead of Indian general elections by charging money. Few B-Town celebrities caught in the operation have now addressed the issue.

Celebrities who agreed to be a part of this unsavory deal include Sunny Leone, Jackie Shroff, Ameesha Patel, Sonu Sood, Shakti Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi, Mika Singh, Mahima Chaudhry, Minissha Lamba, Shreyas Talpade, Choreographer Ganesh Acharya, Rohit Roy and Rakhi Sawant.

Sunny Leone and Sonu Sood, whose name appeared on the list, have denied all the allegations made against them.

In the video made public by Cobrapost, Leone was heard saying that she would tweet anything given that her husband is provided citizenship by Narendra Modi. In her tweet, she wrote, “I am not campaigning for any political parties, unlike the news that's circulated talking about me doing so. If and when I do promote any political party I would be the first to announce the same”.

Clarity !!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/tQ192e4J0W

— Sunny Leone (@SunnyLeone) February 19, 2019

While ‘Simmba’ actor said in his official statement, “The editing has been tampered with and only certain elements of the conversation have been used and projected in the wrong light. To add to that the background score only sensationalises it further. In the video too, I had clearly stated that I won't demean any party or promote anything which is not right or not true”.

Truth shall prevail !!! pic.twitter.com/8ivfm9lqm1

— sonu sood (@SonuSood) February 19, 2019

While many celebrities agreed to push political agendas through money, actors like Vidya Balan, Arshad Warsi, Raza Murad and Saumya Tandon refused the offer.