Bollywood actor Preity Zinta has denied the Congress’ Kerala unit’s claim that she had been given a Rs 18 crore loan waiver in exchange for letting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) run her social media handles. Saying she operates her own social media handles, the actor added in a statement: “Shame on you for promoting fake news! No one wrote off any loan for me. For the record, a loan was taken and paid back in full more than 10 years ago.”
On February 24, the Kerala Congress claimed on X that the actor had handed over her social media accounts to the BJP in return for a bank loan waiver of Rs 18 crore. “The bank collapsed last week. Depositors are on the streets for their money,” Kerala Congress further said in the post.
Preity denied the claims and also said: “I’m shocked that a political party or their representative is promoting fake news and indulging in vile gossip and clickbait using my name and images.
I hope this clarifies and helps so there are no misunderstandings in the future,” the actor added.
The Kerala Congress’ claims in the wake of the New India Cooperative Bank collapse came to the fore in Mumbai. The RBI has now imposed severe restrictions on the bank citing irregularities, prohibiting it from issuing new loans or renewing existing ones. It was also barred from accepting new investments or deposits and selling its assets. An FIR has also been registered alleging embezzlement worth Rs 122 crore.
According to some reports, around 80 staff members of the bank were forced to resign in 2019, following which they moved to the Central Bank, requesting a forensic audit and also the dissolution of the board of directors.