Maharashtra Home Minister makes U-turn in celebrity tweets row

Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has made a ‘U-turn’ in the controversy with respect to tweets by celebrities like Lata Mangeshkar and Sachin Tendulkar. Deshmukh on Tuesday clarified that the state government was probing the BJP IT cell and not the tweets by Bharat Ratnas Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar.

Deshmukh claimed that he never said tweets by Lata Mangeshkar and Sachin Tendulkar were to be probed. “I only said that the role of BJP’s IT cell will be looked into for the tweets by celebrities rallying around the Centre,” he said.

“We respect Lata didi (Mangeshkar) like our God and Tendulkar is also loved by all in our country. There is no question of any inquiry against them. I had only announced that the BJP IT cell would be probed to see whether they had provided the script for the tweets for the celebrities,” Deshmukh said.

He further said that the state intelligence department is conducting the probe. “Preliminary inquiry also has showed the alleged role of BJP IT cell’s chief and 12 influencers have come to the fore as the ones behind the celebrity tweets.”

“I had said that we will be probing the IT cell of the BJP. But my comments were misconstrued as probe into celebrity tweets. Lata Mangeshkar is like our God, Sachin Tendulkar is idolised by everyone in the country. We want to probe the IT cell of the BJP, and if they had handed over any script. And preliminary inquiry points towards the head of BJP IT cell and 12 influencers,” Deshmukh said.