Jaipur, March 12 (IANS) During the discussion on the Appropriation Bill in the Assembly on Wednesday, Leader of Opposition Tika Ram Jully questioned the state government over its expenditure on the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards.
He criticised the state administration for allocating more than Rs 100 crore to the event while allegedly neglecting funding for prominent temples like Khatu Shyam Ji and Govind Dev Ji.
“You spent more than Rs 100 crore on IIFA but did not allocate the same amount for Khatushyamji and Govind Dev Ji. However, the file for IIFA was processed like a Bullet train. In IIFA, did you promote Rajasthan or just the event?” Jully asked.
Taking a jibe at the IIFA awards guest list, Jully claimed that no top-tier Bollywood actors attended the event.
“Only Shah Rukh Khan was among the first-grade actors. When someone mentioned Madhuri Dixit’s name, I responded that she is now a second-grade actress. Her time is over,” he remarked.
He also criticised the exclusion of singer Sonu Nigam from the event.
“Sonu Nigam should have been invited. What changed within a month? He was invited to the Investor Summit but not to IIFA. If someone suggested it, the idea was dismissed,” Jully said.
The controversy surrounding Sonu Nigam deepened after the singer voiced his disappointment on social media.
Following the IIFA Awards in Jaipur, the LoP criticised the IIFA event for not nominating Sonu Nigam for the Best Male Playback Singer for his song ‘Mere Dholna 3.0’ from ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3’.
On Tuesday, Sonu Nigam posted a screenshot of the IIFA nominations, highlighting the omission of his song and sarcastically thanking IIFA.
Sonu Nigam’s criticism also links back to an earlier controversy when Rajasthan CM Bhajan Lal Sharma and other Ministers walked out of his performance midway in Jaipur three months ago.
The singer had then expressed feeling disrespected, and his recent social media post suggested a continuation of the dispute.
Sonu Nigam took to his Instagram, and shared a video in which he said, “Delegates came from all over the world to enhance the pride of Rajasthan. There was a CM, a youth Minister, and a Sports Minister. There were a lot of people. I could not see all of them in the dark. There were a lot of people.”
“In the middle of the show, I saw that the CM and the rest of the people left. As soon as they left, all the delegates also left. I have a request to all politicians, if you do not respect your artists, then what will the people outside do?” he added.
Sonu Nigam has shared the video and called it an insult to ‘Goddess Saraswati’ and ‘art’.
–IANS
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