A STING OPERATION EXPOSES Celebs Who Caught On Camera Agreeing To Post Online For Political Parties
More than 30 Bollywood celebrities, including Jackie Shroff, Kailash Kher and Vivek Oberoi, have allegedly been caught in a sting operation for agreeing to promote the agenda of parties on social medi
More
than
30
Bollywood
celebrities,
including
Jackie
Shroff,
Kailash
Kher
and
Vivek
Oberoi,
have
allegedly
been
caught
in
a
sting
operation
for
agreeing
to
promote
the
agenda
of
parties
on
social
media
platforms
in
exchange
for
money,
online
portal
Cobrapost
claimed
on
Tuesday.
Operation
Karaoke
by
Cobrapost
had
its
reporters
posing
as
representatives
from
a
public
relations
company
and
meeting
actors,
singers,
dancers
and
TV
stars
through
their
managers
to
allegedly
strike
a
deal
ahead
of
the
upcoming
Lok
Sabha
elections.
Addressing
a
press
conference
here,
Cobrapost
editor-in-chief
Aniruddha
Bahl
said
the
sting
revolves
around
36
celebrities
agreeing
to
post
messages
on
their
Facebook,
Twitter
and
Instagram
accounts
to
help
create
a
favourable
environment
for
certain
political
parties
in
the
run
up
to
the
elections.
The
celebs,
most
of
them
second
rung
TV
and
film
stars,
agreed
to
tweet
content
on
various
issues
to
be
provided
to
them
before
posting
the
same
on
their
social
media
pages
to
make
it
look
as
their
own,
he
alleged.
"They
would
defend
the
government
even
on
controversial
issues
such
as
rape
and
fatal
accidents
such
as
bridge
collapses.
They
were
even
willing
to
sign
a
dummy
contract
for
endorsement
of
products
to
disguise
the
real
nature
of
the
proxy
political
campaigning
that
they
were
willing
to
do,"
Bahl
said.
According
to
Cobrapost,
the
party
in
question
was,
in
most
cases,
the
Bharatiya
Janata
Party
(BJP)
and
the
Aam
Aadmi
Party
(AAP),
and
the
Congress
in
some
instances.
Many
celebrities
agreed
to
share
their
PAN
number
and
banking
details
but
most
preferred
cash,
he
claimed.
The
media
portal
has
put
out
a
series
of
tweets
with
videos
of
the
celebrities
caught
in
the
sting.
According
to
Cobrapost,
most
of
the
celebrities
did
not
blink
an
eye
before
saying
Aye
to
the
proposition,
asking
for
a
fee
ranging
from
Rs
2
lakh
to
Rs
50
lakh
per
message.
"Some
even
quoted
a
fee
of
Rs
20
crore
for
an
eight-month
contract,
and
almost
none
of
them
said
no
to
black
money
when
we
told
them
a
bulk
of
their
fee
would
be
paid
in
cash,"
the
outlet
claimed.
Representing
a
fictitious
PR
agency
and
taking
on
aliases,
Cobrapost
reporters
approached
these
celebrities
asking
if
they
would
be
willing
to
promote
a
political
party
discreetly
on
Twitter,
Facebook
and
Instagram.
In
a
statement
on
the
sting,
Cobrapost
said
some
of
the
celebrities
tweeted
without
having
been
paid
any
money
to
"show
their
eagerness".
Some
celebrities
turned
down
Cobrapost's
offer
to
promote
a
political
party
on
social
media.
"When
we
approached
Vidya
Balan,
Arshad
Warsi,
Raza
Murad
and
Saumya
Tandon
with
our
proposition,
these
celebs
chose
to
go
by
their
conscience
and
straightaway
refused
to
play
ball,"
it
said.
Apart
from
Shroff,
Kher
and
Oberoi,
those
who
agreed
to
tweet
for
money
included
names
such
as
Shreyas
Talpade,
Sunny
Leone,
Shakti
Kapoor,
Sonu
Sood,
Ameesha
Patel,
Tisca
Chopra,
Rakhi
Sawant,
TV
star
Pankaj
Dheer
and
son
Nikitin
Dheer,
Puneet
Issar,
Rajpal
Yadav,
Minissha
Lamba,
Hiten
Tejwani
and
wife
Gauri
Pradhan,
Mahima
Chaudhary,
Rohit
Roy,
Aman
Verma,
Koena
Mitra
and
Rahul
Bhat
among
others.
Singers
Daler
Mehndi,
Mika,
Abhijeet
Bhattacharya
and
Baba
Sehgal,
choreographer
Ganesh
Acharya
and
comedians
Rajpal
Yadav,
Raju
Srivastava,
Krushna
Abhishek
and
Vijay
Ishwarlal
Pawar
(VIP)
were
also
part
of
the
list.