Mumbai: A furious Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on Saturday demanded an apology from comedian Kapil Sharma for making allegations on its party workers of taking a bribe from him and threatened that if he does not do so, they will not allow the shooting of his shows anymore.
Speaking to ANI here, MNS leader Shalini Thackeray also hit out at Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for cooperating with the actor, instead of taking action on Sharma for building an illegal construction on a mangrove.
"It has come to our notice that, after Kapil Sharma tweeted regarding one of MNS workers, that he has made an illegal construction through a low-housing scheme, where he has made four floors which are illegal. And that too in a land that has been declared as mangroves. You cannot touch mangroves and the minute you touch them, you can be arrested. So this is the first concern that I have that how has he been allowed to do this," she said.
Further stating that the comedy show host was served a notice on 26th of July and the demolition took place on the 4th of August regarding the illegal construction, Thackeray said that Sharma had woken up after a month and raised a controversy so that he can distract and divert attention from the main issue that he has committed irregularities."
“He has done illegal construction for which he should be penalised and arrested. That kind of action has not taken place from the Chief Minister. On the contrary, the Chief Minister has supported him and assured him that an investigation will take place on the BMC officials who have done their duty. I did not expect from him. In fact, we demand that the Chief Minister give orders to arrest Kapil Sharma," she said.
Demanding more action on the host, Thackeray added that he apologises to the MNS for unjustly accusing the party workers or else they will not allow any shoot of his shows to take place and will shut down the show.
Claiming that there have irregularities on the set of the Sharma`s show before, the MNS leader asserted that the same are happening now at his office, house and the current set of his show. Slapping another charge on Sharma, she added that several foreigners are working on his show on a tourist visa which was illegal, adding that CM Fadnavis should turn his attention to that.
"The MNS has been raising the issue of foreigners working in our industry on tourist visa which is not allowed anywhere in the world and they are doing so on the Kapil Sharma show. Why did the earlier government not act on this? Why has this Chief Minister not taken action on these issues? Rather than supporting him, he should be acting on these issues," Thackeray said.
Meanwhile, an RTI has been filed against Sharma alleging that mangroves were destroyed during his office construction.
The complaint filed by RTI activist Asad Patel was registered in the Versova Police Station.
The police are currently investigating the matter.
Kapil Sharma has claimed that he was asked to pay a bribe by a BMC official for his new office that is under construction.
"I am paying 15 cr income tax from last 5 year n still i have to pay 5 lacs bribe to BMC office for making my office @narendramodi. Yeh hain aapke achhe din ?," he had said in a furious tweet.
BMC vigilance chief engineer Manohar Pawar and Maharashtra CM have both responded to Sharma and assured that they are looking into the matter.
