Giving a new twist to the war of words between the Maharashtra government and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath over the proposed film city at Noida, a UP minister on Wednesday accused the Shiv Sena (SS) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) of using the 'underworld' to 'pressurise' the Bollywood personalities not to shift base.
''Many film producers, directors, and actors want to leave Mumbai and shift base to UP but they are being threatened by the underworld at the behest of Shiv Sena and NCP,'' UP minister for minority welfare Mohsin Raza said here.
Raza said that the Maharashtra government had been 'rattled' by the kind of warm reception for Adityanath by the film personalities in Mumbai.
''UP is home to many national cultural treasures....it is the right place for film making....we do not want to snatch anything from anyone...there is no reason for the Maharashtra government to be worried,'' the minister said.
Raza's remarks came in the wake of statements by Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and SS spokesman Sanjay Raut on Adityanath's visit to Mumbai to woo the Bollywood personalities to come to Noida.
''It is not easy to shift Bollywood to Noida,'' Raut had said. Uddhav too had said that Maharashtra had the ''magnetic power'' and that no industry would move out of the state.
Film actor and BJP MP from Gorakhpur Ravi Kishen, however, said that the controversy was uncalled for. ''We all should work together rather than fighting each other,'' he said.