Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday expressed his heartfelt condolences on the demise of veteran actor Rishi Kapoor and called him “a talented artiste.”
However, four years ago, the two personalities were engaged in a bitter war of words with the Bollywood heartthrob calling the Bihar Chief Minister ‘myopic’.
Shortly after Prohibition was imposed in Bihar in April 2016, Rishi Kapoor tweeted: “10 years imprisonment for alcohol - Five years for illegal possession of arms? Wah Nitish! Me no coming to Bihar! How myopic can you get in 2016?”
The actor, who strongly disapproved of Nitish’s decision to make Bihar a dry state four years ago, had said that the Bihar CM’s decision would not only encourage bootlegging but also make Bihar lose Rs 3,000 crore as revenue every year.
“Bihar, you will encourage bootlegging and illicit liquor. Prohibition has failed worldwide. Wake up! You will also lose Rs 3,000 cr revenue,” tweeted Rishi in April 2016.
The Bollywood heartthrob said that he had been consuming liquor since the days of shooting for Manmohan Desai’s ‘Coolie’, which also starred Amitabh Bachchan as the main lead character. “Please abstain from it,” said Rishi adding that “smoking and drinking were hazardous.”
Chief Minister Nitish did not approve of such jibe made by an actor against him. The Bihar CM was quick to respond: “This actor is making fun of Prohibition and says: Me no coming to Bihar… Bol toh aise rahein hain jaise yahan roz aatein hain (He is saying so as if he comes to the State every now and then).”
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