Red card for Amitabh Bachchan

Almost a fortnight after Kerala’s tourism minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan wrote to Amitabh Bachchan offering him brand ambassadorship of Kerala Tourism, a section within the CPM, including some politburo members, have come out against the proposal. For them, brand ambassador of Narendra Modi’s Gujarat for the Left-controlled state is sacrilege. Mr Bachchan, who had accepted the Kerala’s government’s proposal a week ago, had in the CPM’s eyes committed the cardinal sin of praising Mr Modi. Mr Bachchan had said that he was promoting a state, not an individual. The differences within the CPM came to the fore on Thursday when politburo member Sitaram Yechury said Kerala and BJP-ruled Gujarat cannot have the same brand ambassador. “The decision will be made by the state government. At the same time that I am confident that the LDF will not appoint a person as brand ambassador who is already a brand ambassador for Modi’s Gujarat,” Mr Yechury told reporters. But Mr Balakrishnan, a politbureau members and number 2 in the state Cabinet, is determined to go ahead with the government’s decision. “We will be sending a senior tourism official to Mumbai to hold discussions with Bachchan. If the terms and conditions are mutually acceptable, he will be made the brand ambassador for tourism. It all depends on how the specifics are going to work out,” officials in the Kerala government said.

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