Preity Zinta slams Kerala Congress for ‘fake news and vile gossip’, clarifies on bank loan

New Delhi: Bollywood actor Preity Zinta on Tuesday called out the Congress party’s Kerala unit, accusing it of promoting fake news and using her name and fame to further its political agenda. Her stern criticism of the Kerala Congress followed reports of a bank loan, linked to her, from the beleaguered New India Cooperative Bank,.

New Delhi: Bollywood actor Preity Zinta on Tuesday called out the Congress party’s Kerala unit, accusing it of promoting fake news and using her name and fame to further its political agenda. Her stern criticism of the Kerala Congress followed reports of a bank loan, linked to her, from the beleaguered New India Cooperative Bank, that collapsed recently.

Kerala Congress took to X and claimed that the actress gave her social media accounts to the BJP and got Rs 18 crore bank loans written by the ruling dispensation, hinting that this was done without following recovery procedures.

“The bank collapsed last week. Depositors are on the streets for their money,” Kerala Congress further said in a post. Preity Zinta rubbished the charge and accused the Congress’ state unit of promoting fake news. “No one wrote off anything or any loan for me,” she wrote on X.

On charges of handing over her social media accounts to the BJP, she said that the party should have some shame for promoting fake news. The actress also sought to clarify the bank loan, stating that the loan was fully paid back, 10 years ago. “Hope this clarifies and helps so there are no misunderstandings in the future,” she further wrote.

The name of the actress started doing the rounds when the alleged corruption in the New India Cooperative Bank came to the fore. The bank collapsed recently, prompting the RBI to impose severe restrictions on the bank. The RBI had imposed severe restrictions on the New India Cooperative Bank citing irregularities, prohibiting it from issuing new loans or renewing existing ones.

It was also barred from accepting new investments or deposits and selling its assets. According to some reports, around 80 staff members of the bank were forced to resign in 2019, following which they moved to the Central Bank, requesting a forensic audit and also the dissolution of the board of directors.