Congress Hits Out at CM Fadnavis Over 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' Release, Calls Him 'Broker'

New Delhi: Keeping up its attack on Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on the "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" release row, Congress on Tuesday said when the state needed a leader, it has got a "broker".

"Maharashtra needs leadership at this very crucial time, and all it got is a broker who is unashamedly pushing the petty electoral agenda of the BJP by mortgaging the valour of our brave Armed forces for a few votes," the AICC said.

In a scathing attack on the Chief Minister, the party said Fadnavis has been "pushed into a corner".

In a commentary posted on its website, Congress dubbed as "strange" statement of Fadnavis that if talks can be held with the Hurriyat and Naxals, what is wrong in talking with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).

"Someone should remind him that we also throw leaders of the Hurriyat and Naxal Movement into jail or place them under house arrest for disrupting law and order. In his most learned opinion, should the same be done with the MNS?" the party said taking a jibe at Fadnavis.

It also alleged that the controversy was a part of the "diversionary tactics" of the Chief Minister who has been unable to provide jobs or tackle rural distress, which forced a large number of farmers to commit suicide this year.

"For a party, the BJP, whose own Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, wines and dines with his Pakistani counterparts and invites them to probe their own misdeeds, many have questioned the motives" behind the Chief Minister's move, it said.

Besides, it wondered when the Modi Government has stated that trade relation will continue with Pakistan, then "why has its own Chief Minister allowed people to be held hostage and be extorted on the issue of Pakistani artists performing in the Indian film industry?"

The movie had been embroiled in a controversy over the past few weeks after the MNS opposed the screening of movies featuring Pakistani actors after the Uri terror attack, putting a question mark on the fate of movie, slated for Diwali release on October 28.

The MNS demand that film director Karan Johar donate Rs 5 crore to the Army Welfare Fund to resolve the controversy has led to attacks on the Chief Minister, who has denied that he was party to the proposal.

The movie features Pakistani actor Fawad Khan.