The Cobrapost website has released the audio of its conversation with famous Bollywood actor Arshad Warsi when its reporter approached the Munna Bhai.. fame actor to push Aam Aadmi Party’s agenda using his social media pages.
In the audio, the Cobrapost reporter is heard speaking to one Ahuti, who works for Arshad as his personal manager. The conversation starts with Ahuti addressing the undercover reporter with his fictitious name ‘Sandeep.’
She said, “Sandeep ji, unfortunately, I spoke to sir yesterday. We wouldn’t be able to do political campaign. Sorry. We thought it was something else. We wouldn’t be able to do this.”
The reporter said that this wasn’t a typical political campaign and explained that he did not need to come out in the open to support a political party. “Sir has never done any political campaigning,” she repeated her stand on behalf of Arshad.
The reporter interrupted but Ahuti was firm in her stand as she once again repeated, “But we wouldn’t be able to do that.”
However, when the Cobrapost reporter requested her to at least listen to his offer in detail, she agreed to let him speak. “He (Arshad) doesn’t have to come out in the open. He just has to support, let’s say, when Aam Aadmi Party has opened good schools. He will only have to write a message saying that ‘the government has done a good job.’ He only has to appreciate.”
Arshad’s manager replied, “I get that. You explained this to me yesterday as well. We don’t get into such things. We have been offered to campaign for parties in elections in the past, but we have always said no since sir always keeps a distance from political campaigning.”
Cobrapost had stung as many as 36 entertainment celebrities, who agreed to accept money to push the agenda of political parties by using their social media accounts in exchange of money. They included singers, social media celebrities and stand-up comedians. Among actors, some of the notable names are Sunny Leonne, Vivek Oberoi, Jackie Shroff, Tisca Chopra, Shakti Kapoor, Sonu Sood, Shreyas Talpade, Ameesha Patel, Mahima Chaudhry, Puneet Issar, Surendra Pal, Pankaj Dheer and his son Nikitin Dheer, Deepshikha Nagpal, Akhilendra Mishra, Rohit Roy, Rahul Bhat, Salim Zaidi, Rakhi Sawant, Aman Verma, Hiten Tejwani and wife Gauri Pradhan, Evelyn Sharma, Minissha Lamba and Koena Mitra.
Arshad was among the four actors, who refused to sell their soul for money with the other three being Saumya Tandon, Vidya Balan and Raza Murad.
