Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray distanced himself from the article on Marathi pride in party mouthpiece attacking actor Amitabh Bachchan, and said the views published in the paper were not his.
"Amitabh Bachchan is our family friend. I have neither said anything against him nor written against him in the editorial. The hue and cry which has been created by the media regarding the news in Saamna is condemnable. Our relations with Amitabh are not so weak that it can be broken by electronic media news," Thackeray said in a statement.
He said people were beginning to 'lose faith' in the electronic media because of the way they were making mountains out of molehills, but the relations between him and the Bachchan family would be unaffected 'because it is a bond of love'.
A front page article in Saturday's edition of the party organ edited by Thackeray, targeted Bachchan who was born in Uttar Pradesh but achieved stardom in Mumbai on the issue of Marathi pride.
While praising his Tamil counterpart Rajnikanth for taking the side of Tamil Nadu on the issue of Hogenakkal water project issue, it said actors like Bachchan would backtrack when it comes to taking a firm stand on the issue of Maharasthrian regional pride.
Article attacking Big B not my views: Thackeray
