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Rahul Gandhi tweets birthday wishes to political rival Uddhav Thackeray

By TLM Last updated Jul 27, 2018

Rahul Gandhi and Uddhav Thackeray — Grapevine has been abuzz with rumours surrounding the walkout of Priyanka Chopra from Salman Khan's most ambitious project 'Bharat'. A lot has been speculated as to why Priyanka Chopra walked out of 'Bharat', after agreeing to be the female lead opposite Salman Khan. As soon as Ali Abbas Zafar, the director of 'Bharat' put a tweet saying that Piggy Chops had indeed opted out of Bharat, rumour mills started doing rounds of a possible rift between Salman and Priyanka. A lot of websites blamed Salman for chopping Priyanka's role. Some websites even cited that being in a male dominated industry, Priyanka did not want to play second fiddle to Salman. Says an insider, " These allegations are simply not true. There is no bad blood between Salman and Priyanka. Salman treats his female co-stars with utmost respect and the industry knows it. How can anyone allege that he chopped up Priyanka's role in the film? Bharat is based on the film 'An Ode To My Father', so obviously the roles have been alloted as per the original film. These websites need to think twice before making serious accusations against someone, knowing how such news have the capability to make or break someone's career. " The source further adds, "Salman respects Priyanka's decision to walk out of the film. This is quite common in the film industry worldwide. Actors have walked out of films even before and they will even in the future. Everyone has their reasons, and who are we judge a woman for the choices she makes?. Dragging her personal life in between is even more regressive and sexist, the way these websites have targetted her. If these websites are so concerned about women rights and sexism, why are they bringing in her relationship angle? ". Why is Salman Khan's name dragged into every controversy that takes place in the industry?" We got in touch with the production house and spoke to Nikhil Namit who has quashed all rumours about an disagreement between Salman and Priyanka and the lenght of her role. Says Namit, " There is not an iota of truth behind the rumours that Priyanka walked out of the film due to the lenght of her role. Knowing how Priyanka has proved her salt as an actress there was no screen test or look test done for her. She hadn't even began shooting for the film, her schedule was from September. We totally respect her decision to say no to the film, but these rumours need to be put to rest." We have all seen how social media has the ability to make and break careers and in such times, the least we can expect from the gossip websites and handles is to grow up and behave responsibly.

In an unprecedented development, Congress President Rahul Gandhi sent warm birthday wishes to Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray, setting political tongues wagging in Maharashtra. “Best wishes to Shri Uddhav Thackerayji, on his birthday. I wish him good health and happiness always,” Gandhi said in an early-bird tweet, sending the the internet in a tizzy. Thackeray, in his mouthpiece recently praised Rahul Gandhi for hugging PM Modi in the parliament during the Monsoon Session.

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Best wishes to Shri Uddhav Thackeray ji, on his birthday. I wish him good health and happiness always.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 27, 2018

The tweet was soon liked by over 5,000 people and retweeted by another 1,200 twitteratti as it started trending, indicating a positive relationship between the two rival parties. Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis also wished his reluctant ally: “Best wishes to Shiv Sena President Uddhavji Thackeray on his birthday.”

शिवसेना पक्षप्रमुख मा. श्री उद्धवजी ठाकरे यांना वाढदिवसाच्या अनंत शुभेच्छा !
— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) July 27, 2018

Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon tweeted to the Shiv Sena chief:

Birthday wishes to Shri Uddhav Thackeray. May Almighty bless him with a long and healthy life in service of society.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 27, 2018

Incidentally, earlier this week, in a three-part marathon interview ahead of his 58th birthday to ‘Saamana’ and ‘Dopahar Ka Saamana’, Thackeray had attacked the ruling ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on a variety of issues, ranging from safety of cow versus women, corruption, Pakistan, simultaneous elections to assemblies and Lok Sabha, etc. On his birthday eve, the Shiv Sena launched a new campaign “Chalo Ayodhya, Chalo Varanasi” as the party prepared to tackle headlong what Thackeray termed as “BJP’s plans to exploit Ram Temple issue in the 2019 elections”.

“I shall go to Varanasi, Kashi, take part in the Ganga aarti and inspect ‘how clean’ the River Ganga has now become… I shall go to Ayodhya for a darshan of ‘Ram Lalla’, and pray at the temple,” he has announced. Thackeray has appealed to partymen to refrain from bringing flowers, bouquets or putting up banners and hoardings for his birthday even as thousands turned up to greet him on Friday.

Also Read: Amit Shah in Mumbai to mend ties with Shiv Sena?

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